Negative Sonic
by Shadowdib
Summary: Sonic is captured By Robotnick, and all of the negative chaos energy is transferred to him, setting free some of his darkest fears...
1. Chapter 1

Negative Sonic

"Face it 'Buttnick-it's over." Sonic grinned. He had the emeralds hidden in his quills, but he was waiting to use them for maximum dramatic effect. Robotnick was trapped in his Egg carrier, and was desperately button mashing, to no avail. "Just give up now."

"No quite yet rodent-I have one last trick up my sleeve…" Robotnick gestured to the ruin of the newest egg craft that Sonic had dismantled. "Does anything look familiar?"

Sonic took a quick glance around the mess. Suddenly, his heart leapt as he saw a half- familiar shape in the shadowy corner that he'd assumed empty. He racked his mind, trying to remember where he had seen the device.

"Forget already, rodent? Here's a hint-_Gaia" _Robotnick let a smug grin slip across his lips.

Sonics' head shot up in horror. Suddenly, he remembered where he had seen the machine…it was the one that had caught him while he was Super, and brought on the whole 'Werehog' incident. This wasn't good.

"Gaia is asleep-even your technologies can't wake him up now!" Sonic replied trying to sound more confident then he felt. The mere thought of the first transformation sent tingles down his spine-the electrical shock had almost made him pass out.

"Oh, I don't plan on waking Gaia again-what interested me was that machine could catch you! Now, my modifications are sure to-interest you…" Suddenly, the Doctor shot backwards and yanked a red lever.

"You've been a pain in my side long enough, rodent. Prepare to let your own powers destroy you!" Robotnick began a maniacal laugh that felt too loud to be contained in the small room. Sonic was pounding the doors, the emeralds forgotten. No use-the doors and walls were reinforced steel, and the crazy laugh bouncing off the walls wasn't helping his concentration any. Suddenly, he felt a tug from behind him like a magnet beam.

"What the..." Sonic felt his quills stand up, the emeralds almost falling out… _That's it! I'll use the emeralds! _But to his dismay, the machine had yanked them just out of his reach. The racer attempted to turn around to get a better perspective of what was going on, and when he did, his mouth dropped open. The formally creamy white machine had turned a menacing dark maroon. Sonic could see the light blue traction beam pulling him in, and, run as he did, there was no escaping it. He closed his eyes to attempt to block out whatever was coming.

"After all these years…I'm surprised I never thought of it before. All I needed to do was harness the chaos energy from your puny blue body-you're a gold mine of chaos power! Then, I thought I'd rather just kill you-so what better way to destroy my oldest nemesis then by using his own energy to rip him apart from the inside out? For me, this is wonderful-for you, this will be just painful…" the mad doctor chuckled. "Of course, in a few minutes, you may not even remember this-amnesia is one possible side effect…"

During this, Sonic was slowly losing the fight to the tractor beam. As Robotnick finished his speech, Sonic was locked in place by black beams, encasing him with many energy rings like a big target, with our hero in the bulls-eye. Suddenly, all Sonic could feel was pain. It surrounded him like the water he so hated. He was drowning in the torture. Sonic tried to scream, but his body didn't respond. It was like he was a puppet and someone had cut the strings. His body was a limp rag in the current of pure chaos energy. Sonic could hear mad cackling in the background, like when you're absorbed in a book and the radio is on low across the room. Then…it was over. He dropped to the floor, barely feeling the impact because his body was still numb.

"What the…" he heard Robotnick stutter. "It worked, but I certainly wasn't expecting _that_…"Sonic groaned, and managed to push his head up after hearing a clatter on the tile through the echoes of red-hot pain-and froze. The emeralds were lying gray and powerless on the floor, but that wasn't what he's seen. Sonic saw a pure black hedgehog in the mirror made by the doctor's dropped goggles. It looked like a combination of Shadow and Dark Sonic, with one difference-his eyes were red hypnotizing swirls. He felt rage building in his chest.

"_WHAT. DID. YOU. DO?" _Sonic growled in a deep voice that sounded like a chorus of a thousand devils. Robotnick began trembling.

"I-I transferred all the negative chaos energy to you. You mostly use the positive energy, so I thought it would des-destroy you. It s-seems I altered your DNA to accept the negative energy-I don't know what the side effects are…" Sonic flew up to the doctor in one fluid motion, and lifted him off the ground by his collar.

"_Is there any way to reverse it? TELL ME!"_ Sonic began shaking his prisoner. Suddenly, he seemed to realize what he was doing. _If I kill him, I'll be stuck like this forever-but is that really so bad? Yes it is! Why did I think that? _Sonic fell to the ground clutching his head. _Who are you?_

_I'm your worst nightmare Sonic. I'm the one that you call on when something is to awful to do…I've just never been able to communicate with you before… when you transform into Dark, it's only a smidgen of your real power…you could thank the doctor for opening the floodgates. Before long, I will have complete rein. Just stay angry…I'll take over. No more pain, no more fear, just you and me against the world. _

_What do you want from me? I want everything back to normal! I don't want to hurt anyone!_

_If that's what you want…I'll show you what happens when you use only the positive energy…when we leave. Let the doctor capture us. Tails and Manic will come rescue us. You'll see…_

_Stop this 'us' stuff. Okay…I'll see the positive energy soon…I just hope you're right…_

Sonic spoke to Robotnick as the terrified doctor struggled to get up. "Okay, 'Buttnick. Take me."

"W-what?" His eyes popped open. This was nothing like Sonic. He would have usually escaped by now.

"You heard me. I don't want to hurt anyone, so cage me. I only ask no experiments, or I _will_ break out of whatever you're holding me in and personally take it upon myself to kick your butt until its black and blue."

_Maybe there were some mental side effects…but 'no experiments' means I can still study him! _"All right, Rodent, you have a deal." Robotnick agreed, a wide grin spreading across his face.

Sonic sighed and slowly held out his glowing black wrists. _This goes against every principle I ever had…_ as Robotnick snapped on the sleep cuffs and the hedgehog tumbled into unconsciousness, he had one last sane thought._ I hope I'm doing the right thing…_


	2. Chapter 2

I will update as I write more. I have the storyline mostly planned, but I am writing it as I go along, so writers block may kick in sometime. Enjoy the next chapter!

Sonic woke up in a large glass container. His first sane thought was _where am I?_ Suddenly, he realized he was submersed in water. The hero started flailing around, hitting the glass walls of his prison._ Water! Water!-Wait. Why aren't I drowning? _Sonic shook his head, trying to clear it. _This must've been what Shadow felt like, waking up. This is worse, I suppose, because he'd never been outside his tank. Back to this-why am I in here? _Peering out of the glass, he caught an image of Robotnick grinning at him.

"So Rodent, you're awake. It's been almost 2 days. Why haven't your friends come yet? Oh, and there is one interesting side effect of this…improvement. It seems you can breathe underwater." The doctor would have continued, but Sonic had started pounding on the glass again. "That's a new unbreakable glass I developed in case the experiment wiped your memory and you came with me willingly. Don't blame me… You're the one who asked me to do this." Sonic bowed his glowing midnight head as he remembered what had happened.

_So it was real… _Sonic knew why the others hadn't come after him. After particularly successful missions-or deep failures-he often went on a long run, of 3 days or more, just visiting Mobius hotspots. He attempted to speak to Robotnick, but all that came out was bubbles. The doctor chuckled.

"If only you could realize how much this satisfies me…to see you trapped…having turned yourself over…I know it won't last forever, so I'm taking in as much as I can."

_Still happy, with that jerk teasing you? I could've taken him… _The demon voice had returned. Now, there was no escape.

_Get out of my head!_

_If you insist….but you can't get rid of me…I AM you…_ the voice faded, but Sonic knew it would be back.

"Now, you wanted me to keep you contained. A dose of tranquilizer should do it…"Sonic began pounding fiercely on his prison walls, his hands heating the water around them with the strange glowing essence surrounding his entire midnight black body. Suddenly he saw the water near the bottom of his tank begin bubbling. Sonic could feel his legs starting to go numb, followed by his arms, his hands falling limply to his side. The tranquilizer flowed to the top of the tank, making Sonic feel lightheaded.

_When this is over….I will obliterate you, Robotnick…_ Sonic barely had time to realize he had never stooped so low as to want to kill someone before he sank into nothingness.

Back in Mobius

_Sonic usually comes by after his run to tell everyone he's alright…Where could he be? _Tails thought, starting to get worried about his adopted brother. _It's been two weeks already…maybe he's at Manic's? Worrying will get me nowhere…might as well call Manic. _Tails crossed his messy workshop, using his two tails to float above-and sweep away-the junk. Tails picked up silver phone, an old gift from Manic from when the two had first met. _I was so jealous of him, being related to Sonic, but he treated me like a little brother. He's a pretty cool guy…but I still don't know whether this phone was actually bought…that was before Sonic reformed his stealing ways…oh well. That's all in the past. Now I just want to know if Sonics' all right._ Tails dialed the now familiar number quickly, and it was answered on the third ring.

"Manic's house…Who is it?"

"Its Tails…how's it going?" No need to worry Manic right away if Sonic is missing.

"Oh, hey buddy! Nothing much…Sonia dropped by the other day, nagging me about cleaning my house. As if…by the way, have you seen Sonic? I kind of assumed it was him, 'cause he's always over there."

Tails felt his heart drop into his shoes. "That's kind of why I called…I thought he was with you. It's been almost two weeks-I'm worried something bad might've happened to him-last I heard, he was trashing the newest Egg Carrier…Do you think Robotnick..." Tails trailed off. Both of the boys knew what that could mean.

"Last time, the 'werehog' disaster happened-I knew it could've been worse…what if…" Manic left his sentence open.

"Manic, come over to my house. I'll call Amy, Sonia, and Knuckles, but if nobody else has seen him, we need to assume the worst. Bring any tech gear you're ripped off Robotnick lately. It might help hacking into his security system. Got it?" Tails murmured, the fox's nervous, shaking tone apparent even to Manic over the phone.

13 minutes later, Manic arrived at Tail's workshop.

"Geez, your place is as messy as mine! Sorry it took so long, had to track down the frequency harmonizer…any luck?" The look on Tails' pale face was answer enough.

"Oh…so, how are we going to get into 'Buttnick's security system?" Manic said, instantly taking charge.

"I hacked his system a week ago-I only hope he hasn't found the virus yet…" Tails flew over to his computer, and began typing so fast his fingers became a blur. Manic maneuvered around the experiments on the floor to stand behind Tails. Both boys held their breath, hoping for luck, and…

"Yes! I'm still in! Let me just sort through this, try to find a good entrance…" Manic shifted from foot to foot, anxious to get going.

"Well?" the green hedgehog said nervously, anticipation and excitement betrayed through his voice.

"You're just like Sonic-you both hate waiting…just a second…there! That vent in the back only had one camera, and it's off now. You ready?"

Manic grinned. "Is Robotnick Ugly?"

8 ½ minutes later, the two boys stood at the bottom of the newest Egg Fort. Manic whistled at the sheer size of the compound.

"No matter how much I hate the guy, you gotta admire his skills. He threw this up in, like, 3 months!"

"I know it's cool, but keep your mind on the mission. Sonic, remember?" Tails replied, as amazed as the other, but worry for his adopted brother was stronger than wonder at the moment. "I'll fly up to the vent, then toss the rope down after I attach it to the shaft."

Manic nodded, his green quills rustling in the breeze. "Got it. Go on up. Remember every second could be essential…Sonics' life may be on the line." Tails shivered, realizing how right Manic was. His tails began spinning, taking a second to get to flight speed. When the fox became airborne, he quickly shot up to the shaft. However, when he tried to get the vent open, his gloves caught resistance.

"What the…oh man-it's locked!"

Manic, still on the ground, was confused about was happening. "WHAT?" he yelled up, trying to figure out what was going on.

"THE VENT'S LOCKED!" Tails called back down, lowering his altitude until he was face to face with Manic again.

"Oh, that's no problem. I had a hunch we'd need the frequency harmonizer…this baby saved our butts countless times back when the Underground was just starting…here you go." Manic handed Tails the small silver beaten up device. Tails flew back up to the vent and attached the harmonizer to the metal, activating the device. The metal behind it went slack for a moment before the shaft clicked open. _Yes, we're in…_ Tails attached the rope to the shaft using an electrical super-suction cup. Manic, seeing the rope was secure, scurried up instantly.

Once inside, the crawl along the shaft was uneventful, except when Tails' foot dangled out of the vent and he kicked, knocking out a guard swatbot. After a time, they arrived at the main lab. Tails dropped out of the vent first, ducking into a ball and rolling into a corner before giving Manic the okay. Both boys peered in the window, and twin gasps were heard as their eyes took in the awful sight. Someone was floating in a tall glass container, breathing, but despite being in water no bubbles were coming out. The creature was surrounded by a glowing substance, black as its fur.

"Could that-is that…_Sonic?_" Manic managed to choke out.

"I…don't know…."Tails responded, his mind not believing what his eyes were telling him. "But no matter what he looks like, he's still Sonic. We need to rescue him…"But Tails was having doubts._ Is he even still Sonic? And how did Robotnick finally catch him?_ The boys silently agreed on saving Sonic, used the frequency harmonizer on the steel lab door, and slowly creaked the door open…

That's all for now…heh heh, I'm evil leaving it like that…Please rate and review!


	3. Chapter 3

Yay! It's done! Enjoy, rate and review! I want to hear anything you want to say about the story!

Manic, being more of an expert in this sort of thing, entered the room first. Except for slow breathing to his right, it was completely silent. _No alarms…'Buttnick finally caught Sonic, and he doesn't even protect him? What's going on here?_ Manic murmured to Tails, "No alarms. C'mon in." Both boys were dead silent as they looked up at the huge glass chamber. Tails, always curious, tapped once on the glass, and a faint hollow bell sound rang out.

"No alarms on the glass either? I guess we're home free…now we just need to figure out how to break the glass. Any ideas Manic?" Tails said slowly, still in shock about this thing being Sonic.

"Not really…wait! If this thing is Sonic, maybe he can break it!" Manic said, getting excited. Tails face lit up, but quickly fell as he realized the problem.

"If he could, he would've gotten out by now…but asking him is a good idea. Maybe he knows a lever or something that can lift the tank off him-so, do we just tap on the glass?" Tails whispered quickly, looking toward Manic. When the green hedgehog nodded, Tails tapped harder on the glass, the ringing sound becoming louder. After the third tap, one of Sonics' ears twitched quickly, so fast Tails didn't catch it. After one more tap, the Dark Sonic slowly opened his eyes…

"What the… his eyes…those swirls…why does that look so familiar? Tails muttered, searching his memory. Manic was staring at his brother, tears welling his eyes.

"Robotnick…will pay." Manic said slowly, through gritted teeth.

"We need to get him out of there. _Now." _Sonic slowly turned his dark head, looking down on his two best friends. His blinked, disbelieving they were really here. _Took you long enough. I've been stuck here with Robotnick for two weeks, and he's been bragging every day about beating me. It's taking all I have to not break out of this prison, but now that you're here... _Sonic began pounding on the glass again,to the surprise of Tails and Manic.

"You're still okay!" They said in unison. Sonic attempted to smile at them, to reassure them they were right, but his new sharp fangs only spooked Tails and Manic more.

"I guess I'll have to a bit of work on you after we bust you out of here…" Tails said clearly, hoping Sonic could hear him. He assumed that he could, because a shiver ran through his dark, glowing body. Manic saw that Sonic was clutching his stomach, obviously in pain.

"Did he rearrange your organs or something?" Manic asked, rage flaring up at the possibility. Sonic slowly and clearly shook his head. Tails jumped in, taking another guess.

"Did Robotnick even feed you?" Sonic shook his head again, holding his stomach tighter. Both boys knew how high of a metabolism the racer had, and Tails guessed that the changes might have raised it even more.

"Don't worry bro; we'll get you out of there. Now, are there any levers or buttons that Robotnick used to open the tank, so we can get you out?" Manic said, still angry but wanting to get his brother out as quickly as possible. They had been lucky so far, but experience told him luck never lasted very long. Sonic shivered again, the pointed at a maroon lever in the corner, right behind another Egg craft. _It can't be this easy, _Tails thought. _Where's the catch?_ Tails unspoken question was answered as a swatbot on its rounds floated in.

"**Intruder alert. Main lab." **A quick solo from Manic's medallion broke the robot into roughly 15 pieces, but the warning had been sent.

"I give it 4 minutes, tops, before Robotnick get here. We've got to work fast." Tails said breathlessly, still running for the lever. In order to speed up, Tails used a crucial second to start his tails. It took another 25 seconds to get the lever, and, pull as Tails did, it was too heavy.

"Crap…MANIC! I need your help!" Manic had been trying to break open the glass with his drums, but was having no luck.

"ON IT!" Manic yelled back, turning the drums toward Tails. "Get some air bud, this is gonna be close!" Manic took aim, then started pounding his set as hard as he could, his arms a blur. Tails plugged his ears, the sound staring to peel the paint on the lab walls. The lever flipped down, the sound waves hitting it too hard.

"Score one for the good guys!" Manic yelled, the water starting to flow out of the bottom of the capsule. When there was about three feet lifted, Sonic started swimming down, a combination of being pulled by the water pressure and using his arms to push down. When he washed out, he wasted no time on thank yous; Sonic just grabbed Manic by his arm, shifting to a more comfortable position before fly over to grab Tails. Tails barely had time to gasp before Sonic shoved him against Manic and flew right at the closed door. Tails closed his eyes, bracing for impact, but nothing hit him. Confused, he looked up at Sonic. His face was a mask of concentration, and he was looking at his hand. Tails glanced down Sonic's arm, and was shocked to see a black energy ball pulsating slowly, darks sparks of electricity dancing around it. Tails closed his eyes again before hearing a horrible hissing sound of melting metal. _This isn't right. I want the old Sonic back…_ Sonic flew the compound at breakneck speed, obviously used to his new form.

20 swatbots, 4 doors, and 10 minutes later, they were outside, and heading towards Tails workshop.

"Um, Sonic?" Tails asked timidly. "Can you set us down?" Sonic shook his head, as if to clear it.

"O-okay…" he stuttered, having not talked out loud in 2 weeks. He set them down slowly in a grassy field they had been passing, obviously trying to be gentle. "Thanks for saving me…that was torture…" Sonic said slowly, still getting used to his new deeper voice. It wasn't as deep as it had been when he'd been mad at Robotnick, but was deeper nonetheless.

"So…" Manic said. "What happened bro? Experiments?" All 3 shivered, thinking of what kind of experiments it could have been.

"No…you remember the werehog incident? He altered that machine, and used it to make me absorb all of the negative chaos energy. I guess you could call this my dark side? There's even a voice that-AHH!" Sonic suddenly collapsed, falling to his knees. His started clawing at his head madly, beginning to draw small amounts of blood.

"GET OUT MY HEAD!"

-  
><em>I told you I would show you what happens only the positive energy…now you'll see. You used mostly positive, but there was some of both energies mixed in. Only positive is much different…<em>

_GET OUT OF MY HEAD!_

_You can't get rid of me any more then you can kill yourself…I am your inner demon…the negative to your positive._

Sonic's hands fell to the ground, as a ripple ran across his body. He slowly lifted off the ground, eyes wide open and arms outstretched, and let out one brief scream before the glow surrounding his body began paling until it was a bright white. Starting with his legs, all of his fur turned snowy white, spreading up to the tip of his quills. His eyes slowly faded from the red hypnotizing swirls to a pure, milky cream. The whole process took about a minute, and neither Tails or Manic looked away. There was something almost magical going on in front of them. Sonic dropped suddenly, like he'd been held up and was let go of by a huge invisible hand. Manic ran up to him first, with Tails right behind him.

"Are you okay? What was that, bro?" Manic said, his words tumbling over each other. Tails put his hand on Sonic's shoulder, but instantly snatched it away.

"Ouch! He's burning up! Manic, we're about half a mile away from my workshop. I'll fly there, and bring back the Tornado so we can bring him to my house, okay? I have some equipment that could help us figure out what's wrong." Manic nodded at Tails.

"Go." As Tails raced away, he was full of worry for Sonic.

_I hope he'll be okay…_

Poor Sonic…rate and review please! I'm not quite sure where the next part should go, so it may take awhile. Just warning you…


	4. Chapter 4

Tails raced back his workshop as fast as his tails could take him, making the half mile trip in about 3 ½ minutes. _What happened to Sonic? He just turned that pure white…does this have to do with Robotnick capturing him? _Tails pushed for one last bit of speed when he saw his workshop on the horizon.

"Almost…there…"Tails muttered aloud, coming to a dead halt a second before slamming into his door. "Let's see, the Tornado is in the garage, and that's around the building…still better hurry." Tails used what little energy he had left to fly up to the cockpit. _Man, I'm getting tired…but Sonic comes first. I can take a nap later._ The purr of the engine jolted Tails out of his stupor, and he used his piloting skills to navigate back to the meadow within 2 minutes. Manic was kneeling over Sonics' limp body, and the pained look on his face sent shivers down Tails' spine.

"Any improvement?" Tails asked, but Manic shook his head slowly.

"Not unless you count almost stopping breathing twice improvement….and being hot enough to bake an egg on his forehead…" Manic replied. Tails hopped off of the plane and set his hand on Sonics' white chest. He winced at the heat-if anything, Sonic had gotten worse. _What could be doing this?_

"Okay, I'll open the hatch of the Tornado, and you can lift him in. You can use my spare gloves to help with the heat." Tails said, formulating a plan quickly. Manic nodded, then grabbed the gloves Tails tossed him. Tails flew back up to the cockpit, then pressed the light blue button, opening the hatch. Manic pulled on the gloves, then picked Sonic up slowly, being as gentle yet as fast as possible. It only took another second to walk up into the cockpit. Manic carefully strapped Sonic into one third seat behind the pilot seat. Tails restarted the engine and pushed the lever forward, lifting them off of the ground. It took every ounce of self-control he had not to look back at the sad state of his best friend in the back seat…

2 minutes later, Tails touched back down in his workshop.

"All right, Manic, you can move him to that table over there." Tails pointed to the nearest operating table. He turned to show the green hedgehog more precise instructions, but Manic wasn't listening at all.

"Manic, what are you…" Tails trailed off, seeing what Manic had been staring at. Sonic was sitting upright, shaking his head to wake himself up.

"Wha…what happened?" Sonic mumbled, unlocking his seatbelt. "All I remember is busting Robotnick's Egg Carrier, then-nothing. Why is my memory so fuzzy? And..." Suddenly, he seemed to notice where he was. Sonic hopped down out of the plane, not using the ladder. He floated the last few feet down, his pale glow brightening for a moment. "…why am I here? You two look like you've seen a ghost!" It was true-Manic and Tails had matching awestruck expressions, their mouths hanging open. Manic gathered up the courage to speak first.

"Um…Bro? Can you go lie on the table over there? It's kind of a long story…" Manic unstrapped himself and unrolled the ladder before climbing down. Sonic seemed to notice he had just jumped down almost 10 feet, and paled.

"How did I…" Manic sighed at his brother's words, and repeated his earlier question.

"Can you go lie down on the table?"

"Sure, I guess…"Sonic replied, floating effortlessly over the junk on the floor. Tails flew behind him, and Manic trudged through the mess, shoving things to the side. Sonic touched down on the stainless steel lab table, wincing at the cold when he sat down.

"So, what did happen? I just want to know why…AHHH!" Sonic suddenly dropped his head, putting it between his knees. He began twitching, tremors running across his body.

"Sonic…what's happening to you?" Tails asked, now extremely worried. Suddenly, Sonic pulled his head up, pain in his eyes.

"Help…me…" Once those words left his mouth, he promptly collapsed backwards, hands falling off of the table. Both Manic and Tails stood gaping for a second before Tails sprung forward, shifting Sonic back onto the center of the table and attached an IV.

"Manic, go into that cabinet over there and grab me a needle. I need to take some blood to find out what's wrong with Sonic." Manic shuddered, but went over to grab one. He grabbed the first needle he saw, and when he came back to Tails he noticed it held a pint of blood. Tails noticed as well, and reassured Manic he would take as little as possible. When Tails poked Sonic he almost filled the vial when the blood started coming out, because his muscles were locked in place from shock. Instead of the normal red, this was a dark blue, with red drops scatted everywhere.

"Oh God…the chaos energy must be totally warping his system… we've got to find a cure fast…" Tails' suspicions were confirmed when he placed the vial in his scanner.

"Computer, identify DNA." Tails said shakily, not sure who it would identify as. Tails had long ago programmed in all of his friends' DNA to his system, in case he ever had to care for them, so the computer could help.

_**Processing…Scanner error. Rebooting…**_ Tails almost started shaking the machine. 2 minutes later, the scanner was functional again, but the news it had was not good.

_**Scanner reports subject is 75% Sonic the hedgehog, 25% chaos energy, and chaos percentile is rising. **_

"Oh no…computer, how long before the chaos percentage outnumbers the normal DNA?"

_**Calculating…2 days, 3 and 1 ½ hours. **_Manic spoke up for the first time.

"W-what does this mean?" His pale face was twitching as he waited for answer from someone. The computer provided it.

_**When the chaos energy outnumbers the normal DNA, there is no way to change him back. The only way to save Sonic is to somehow remove the chaos energy.**_

"But then, why is it such a problem? All we need to do is get rid it of then, right?" Manic grinned at Tails, thinking it was a simple solution. He was shocked to see Tails starting to cry.

"What's wrong? This should be easy!" Tails shook his head slowly, wiping his tears before speaking.

"You f-forgot…Sonic had a lot of chaos energy in his body anyway, as his life force, so If we take too much, it could kill him anyway! There's no way to be able to tell how much was recent, and just a little too much either way could shut his body down for good!" Tails head fell into his lap again, and Manic suddenly understood.

"Well, this sounds like this would be either Knuckles or Shadow's territory, so why don't we go ask them? I'll load Sonic back into the Tornado, so we can show them… we can't give up on Sonic now!" Tails sniffed once before looking up.

"I guess we could…but you heard the computer. It takes at least a day to get to Angel Island, and we only have two!" Manic looked worried for a moment, before his face brightened. He pulled a ring out his vest. It glowed for a moment before expanding to portal size.

"Here's a warp ring! I was saving it for a special occasion, but this qualifies. This one you can program to go anywhere, but it won't hold the Tornado. We should go visit Knuckles first, then use the Master Emerald to get back to the mainland!" Tails stood up.

"Then there's no time to waste. Think you can carry Sonic?" Manic nodded, then tossed Tails the ring to program. When he wiggled his arms under Sonic, he was shocked by how much lighter he already was. _Chaos is pure energy, so soon he might not weigh anything…we need to get help for him before that happens!" _About a minute later, Tails stood back, making sure it was working.

"All systems go-I'll go through first." Tails took a hesitant step, then confidently jumped through, his image hazy for a moment before disappearing.

_Me next._ Manic thought. _Here goes…_he felt the normal feeling of being in water for a moment before warping. As he caught sight of a big mushroom, he knew they were there. Sonic rolled over in Manic's arms, curling up on himself and moaning.

_Just hold on bro…Help's on the way._

Poor Sonic…anyone else think of a clear, Chaos-like Sonic right there? Rate and review please!


	5. Chapter 5

When Manic stepped out of the portal, he noticed how warm it was. _Knuckles has it made, living here. The weather's always great here! But no time for sightseeing. We need to find Knuckles fast._

Manic saw Tails just to his right, shaking himself off. Manic decided to speak first.

"Man, it's been forever since I was last here. Do you remember how to find Knux?" Tails started grinning. He pointed at a rapidly approaching dot coming through the brush.

"No need to find Knuckles. He finds you. He always did have an uncanny ability to know when someone's here…" The boys patiently waited for Knuckles to reach them. The echidna was steaming mad, until he saw who it was.

"WHAT ARE YOU-oh. It's you guys. So, what brings you to the Floating island? And where's Sonic?" He hadn't noticed that Manic was carrying someone. Manic had always been more comfortable with Knuckles then Tails was, so he spoke first.

"Actually, that's why we came. This IS Sonic." Manic said, holding up his unconscious brother. Knuckles suddenly shied away, holding his head.

"Urgh…suddenly, there was just a spike of chaos energy…what's going on?" He looked up. "And what happened to Sonic?" Tails spoke up.

"Robotnick transferred all of the negative chaos energy from the emeralds to him, and it's warping his whole system. In fact, the energy is taking over his DNA. We need to know if you can use the Master Emerald to help." Knuckles' eyes widened.

"I didn't even know that was possible! I might be able to help, but I'll probably need Shadow to help. And I'm going to need the chaos emeralds. We need to put the energy somewhere, and adding negative energy to the Master could blow up Angel Island.' Tails straightened up, then added something.

"Do you think we can use the Master emerald to get back to the mainland?" Knuckles face tightened up for a moment, then relaxed.

"I guess you can…but be careful. And keep Sonic away from me until we can fix him…he's full of energy, and it's starting to make me feel sick." Manic nodded and took the rear when Knuckles led then across the forest to the emerald chamber.

20 minutes of hard hiking later, they reached the Mystic Ruins. Tails and Manic were breathing hard, tired to the bone from the constant activity over the past 6 hours. Manic knew he would have to take them back to the mainland, because neither Tails nor Knuckles had ever tried it. Sonic usually did it, but Manic had seen him 'chaos control' enough times to figure it out himself. Manic took a deep breath and grabbed Tail's hand, who then grabbed Knuckles glove.

"CHOAS CONTROL!"

Manic felt oddly like he was flying, swimming, and falling at the same time, He tried to concentrate on Shadow's front step, knowing if he messed up, they might very well end up in space. Mobians can breathe in space, but there was no way to get back, unless a ship passed. Then it would be too late for Sonic… _Focus! _Manic silently reprimanded himself. After about another few heart pounding moments, they were dumped unceremoniously on Shadow's back porch. Manic ended up on the bottom, followed by Tails, with Knuckles on the top.

"I need to practice that, in case Sonic is ever unconscious in a fight or something…' Manic muttered, standing up and brushing himself off as Shadow came rushing out.

"Who do you think you are, busting in? What's so important that you break in on my house?' Shadow was steaming, and all three could tell he wouldn't cooperate easily.

"Well. Robotnick transferred all the negative chaos energy to Sonic, and it's killing him. We need your help to get rid of it." Knuckles said, walking up to Shadow until he was a foot away from his face.

"And why should I care?" Shadow said slowly, obviously still mad.

"Because, the chaos emeralds are now useless rocks." Manic piped in.

Shadow turned to look at him.

"How can I help?"

xxxxx

_What's going on?_

_You're losing. The chaos energy is taking over. I told you you would regret this…_

_WHAT? NO! Is there any way to reverse it?_

_Only one…but your friends will never find it._

_Let me wake up! I need to talk to them!_

_You'll see…Soon, they won't even recognize you. Me and you, we'll be one. 1 ½ more days…_

xxxxx

Sonic woke up with Tails leaning over him.

"AHH! Tails, what are you doing?" Tails eyes widened when Sonic started talking.

"You're awake? GUYS! HE'S AWAKE!" Sonic flinched as Tails yelled.

"Ouch…Mind keeping it down? I've got a major headache…and who else is here? What's happening?" Tails did a face palm, remembering Sonic didn't know anything.

"You're not going to like this…Robotnick transferred all of the negative chaos energy to you, and it's taking over your DNA. You've got about a day and a half left. Just look down." Tails stood up, and Sonic pushed himself to a sitting position. He almost fell back down when he saw his creamy white body.

"What the…" Tails nodded.

"I was checking the newest development." Tails carefully pulled off Sonics' socks and shoes and pointed at his feet. Sonic almost passed out when he saw that they had almost become transparent, like water.

"W-what? I-is there any way to reverse it?" Sonic stuttered, knowing deep down that the voice was right… Tails gestured behind him, as Knuckles, Manic, and Shadow walked in.

"Wow." Sonic said, a small smile gracing his face for a moment. "You even got Faker to help." Shadow turned and glared at Sonic.

"I'm only here to help restore the chaos emeralds. I could care less about what happens to you." Manic stepped forward, and whispered something to Tails.

"What?" Sonic asked, wondering if they were talking about him.

"Um, Sonic? We need to get the chaos emeralds to restore you-and them-back to normal. And…I don't know how to break this to you, but…" Tails trailed off, looking around him for help. Knuckles jumped in, finishing Tails' sentence.

"-You'd just slow us down." Sonics' eyes widened-he'd never been told that before.

"B-but why?" Sonics' stuttering made Manic pity his brother. This wasn't his fault, and the changes weren't easy, but they had to tell him.

"Because you might pass out again, and no one wants to lug dead weight around while on a rescue mission. You understand, right?" Sonic started shivering again, but nodded slowly. He hated it, but knew it was for the good of the mission. Tails handed Sonic a communicator, so they would be constantly talking to him.

"Everyone ready?" Tails asked. When they all nodded, Tails booted up the Tornado. With there not being enough room, Shadow rode out on the wing. As Sonic watched his friends fly off, he only hoped desperately that they would be all right.

I know, I stink at guessing what Shadow would say. Rate and review please!


	6. Chapter 6

Sonic watched his friends fly away, watching them until they were far out of sight. Then he hopped back onto the lab table. _I'll give it 2 more minutes. By then, they'll be in. _Sonic lounged around, swinging his newly lighter feet off the edge of the table. Finally, he decided that it was late enough and flipped open the communicator. Tails looked back at him.

"You okay bud?" Sonic asked, nervous not being there to help.

"Just relax Sonic. We'll be fine. We're using Knuckles and Shadow to pinpoint the chaos energy, and we're pretty close. I give it another 20 minutes before we're done, so stop worrying. We're going to be just-WOAH!" Sonic saw Tails turn to look at something to his left before the screen went completely static.

"Tails? TAILS!" _I've got to get over there and help! But they're right…I'm in no condition…maybe if I can go back to the darker form? Well, here goes nothing… _Sonic took a deep breath, and tried to pull up all of the rage he'd been pushing down. _Robotnick, the Swatbots, Gaia, that Dark Voice that keeps popping up…_

_I was wondering when you'd get to me._

_What? You can hear me?_

_I always could. Would you like some help?_

_You mean you can trigger the change?_

_Yes._

_But-what's the cost?_

_Time, Sonic. If you let the dark form be reborn, it will shorten your time for staying-as you call it-normal. But you need to do this, to help your friends._

_As much as I hate it, you're right. Help me._

Sonic felt a sudden rush of energy. It was-amazing. So much power and rage in one place. He shivered as his head fell, body darkening. His teeth became sharper, his eyes hurt for a moment before his vision sharpened. After a minute, it was done. Sonic floated up effortlessly, readjusting to his new/old form.

_This isn't so bad…but no time to enjoy myself. I've got to get to my friends! _Sonic started flying as fast as he could towards Robotnick's base. He wasn't paying any attention to where he was going, worried about his friends as he was, so when a laser was on crash course with the distracted hero, he made no move to get out of the way. It hit him full force, sinking Sonic into a nearby lake.

_I can't swim! _Sonic began flailing around crazily, driving himself even deeper into the dreaded H2O. Desperate, he started kicking as hard as he could, not realizing he was going the wrong way. Sonic was starting to get lightheaded, and he knew he couldn't take much more. Lack of oxygen warping his judgment, he took a deep breath-and felt instantly better.

_What the heck? Oh yea…_ he suddenly remembered the first day of his conscious captivity in Robotnick's lab, where the doctor had informed the hedgehog of his new ability-breathing underwater. _That came in handy…but how do I get in? The bio-scanners would detect the chaos energy-maybe I can tunnel under the base by swimming! I'm the only one who ever breaks in, and he knows I hate water, so he probably doesn't have any security under the base…well, here goes nothing… _Sonic, still unused to being in water, swam as fast as he could. After about 10 more minutes, he spotted a chute, probably for getting rid of waste. It was only about a foot wide, but Sonic took the chance to practice his energy ball to widen the hole. He stepped out into a food cellar, completely dry. _Hmm, I guess the glow surrounding me repels water…too bad I can't keep it…now to find the others. _He unlocked the door with one of his quills (Always useful, being a hedgehog) and stepped out into the corridor. He spotted a Swatbot, and suddenly felt like getting information out of the machine. He flew up to the scanner 'eyes' and said slowly,

"_Where are the prisoners?" _ The robot looked confused for a moment before answering.

"**I am not at liberty to-"**Sonic cut the robot off by swooping up and using his hand to behead it.

_You see? The rush? Soon, no need for anyone else-just us and the pure adrenalin._

_I told you to go away._

_10 more hours...I can wait. Biding my time…_

Sonic shook his head, trying to get rid of the voice. He spotted another Swatbot, and got an idea. He flew up to the ceiling, just out of the robot's sight range. When it passed below him, he grabbed the head, then rooted around until he triumphantly pulled out the memory chip. Plugging it into a nearby security camera, he saw that Tails and the others were in lab 8 the last time the Swatbot had seen them. Using the oh-so helpful signs on almost every corner, Sonic was able to locate the others quickly. He peered in the window, flaring up with rage as he saw his friends bound and gagged with 'unbreakable' steel ropes. He burnt a hole through the door, stepping through quickly. He noticed that Shadow was knocked out as well as gagged. _Probably as a precaution._ Manic was the first one to see Sonic.

"Mmph!"

"Don't worry bro; I'll get you out of there. Just give me a second." sonic walked over and started untying Manic. After a minute and a half, it was loose enough for Manic to talk.

"Can't you just burn through the rest?" Sonic grinned.

"You never cease to amaze me…" Sonic generated another energy ball and smiled at the hissing sound when he touched it to his brother's restrainings.

"Manic, go work on waking up Shadow while I get the others free. We'll need every moment to escape, and someone else who can use chaos control is always useful. Don't tell him I said that, by the way." Manic nodded as Sonic turned tail and started working on burning out Knuckles.

"What's going on here?" Sonic heard from behind him. He recognized the voice, and pivoted slowly.

"Hey Shadow." Shadow glared at him.

"Get me out of-never mind. I'll do it." Shadow closed his eyes and slowly extended his hands, breaking the steel.

"Wow-I take it you took off the limiters?" Shadow nodded, then wobbled a bit. Manic ran up and caught him before then he fell over.

"Just great. Shadow's about to pass out. Who's dead weight now? Every time he takes his limiters off this happens!" Sonic suddenly felt enraged, and decided to take it out on Shadow.

"You jerk! Why did you take them off? Now you're just dead weight! I can't believe you didn't just let me help! You and your egotistic pride!"

Sonic was breathing hard, and felt suddenly completely drained.

Knuckles stood up, his burned restraints falling off of him.

"Sonic? Are you okay?" Sonic stared at him for a moment before responding.

"N-no. I'm not okay. Let's just get of here fast, okay?" He stepped over and began freeing Tails. Manic lay a hand on his brother's shivering shoulder.

"Just hang in there bro. Shadow figured out where the emeralds are, so Knux is going to get them. He's the best at that sort of thing. Just relax. We have another day, at least, right?" Sonic turned his head, having finished breaking Tails out. As the fox stood up and stretched, Sonic told them the bad news.  
>"W-we may have slightly less than that…" Tails turned to his adopted brother.<p>

"What are you talking about?" Sonic took a deep breath.

"I found out reactivating the stronger negative chaos form took some of the time off. I don't know how long I have, but it's probably half of Tail's estimate." Tail's mouth started opening and closing.

"Sonic? I didn't think I would have to tell you about this, but I found out about some possible effects the chaos would have on your body and mind once it got closer to the end…I assumed we could fix it before then." Sonic flew right up to Tails, and started yelling at him.

"WHEN WERE YOU PLANNING ON TELLING ME THIS?" He grabbed the fox by his chest and lifted him in the air.

"Y-you're choking me! L-let me g-go!" Sonic suddenly dropped Tails, and began looking around confused.

"What just happened?" Manic, Tails and even Shadow were looking at Sonic with shock. Manic stuttered out,

"Y-you almost choked T-Tails." Sonic stepped back in pure shock.

"W-what?" Tails rubbed his chest before taking a deep breath.

"That's one of the side effects…moments of pure rage. And with no way to predict it, you need to be reeeally careful about keeping your emotions in check." Sonic was still in shock, and barely processed what Tails was saying, his mind spinning.

_Seems I'll have control earlier then I thought…_

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse…rate and review please!


	7. Chapter 7

Sonic tried to clear his head. He decided to cover his worry with his usual take-charge attitude.

"Okay, let's get out of here, then worry about my temper issues. How long until Knux gets back?" Sonics' question was answered as Knuckles walked in, holding the gray emeralds. He looked at the other's worried faces.

"What did I miss?"

"We'll explain later. Sonic, it looks like you're going to have to take all of us in one trip." Tails said, looking at his best friend with worry. "Think you can handle it? Normally, you'd take two, but I don't want to push time here." Sonic nodded slowly.

"I'll do my best. Manic, grab my hand. Tails, grab his. Knuckles, take Tail's hand and grab Shadow." Manic squeezed his brother's hand.

"Everybody ready?" With the chorus of nods and murmured 'yes's, Sonic took a deep breath. He hoped his new form could transport without the emeralds-it certainly seemed powerful enough.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" Sonic had to use every ounce of his willpower to keep them on track. He felt Manic squeezing him even tighter, and saw him turning pale. They ended up outside Tails' workshop again, and when they touched down, Sonic collapsed.

"SONIC!" Tails and Manic rushed up to him. Tails felt the blue hedgehog's forehead, and checked his pulse. Manic's heart restarted when Tails let out a sigh of relief.

"Accelerated heart rate, but he's okay. It's probably just exhaustion. I'll reconnect him to the computer to see if there's any way we can fix him." Manic grabbed Sonic and carried him over to the lab table. When Tails connected the computer, it started going crazy.

_**Error. Subject 60% Sonic the hedgehog, 40% Chaos energy.**_ All of the boys stared at the computer, then looked over at the twitching Sonic.

"C-computer? How long before the DNA percentages are equal?" Tails managed to stutter out.

_**Calculating…2 hours. **_ Tails paled and almost fell over, gripping the table for support.

"Shadow's still out, so he's no help…and we need him…There's one other side effect that might pose a problem…" Manic started shaking Tails.

"What is it?"

"M-memory loss…he might not remember us, and the rage hormones will probably make him think we're a threat…" Manic took a step back.

"T-then, do we need to keep him knocked out? Shouldn't be too hard…" Manic had spoken too soon, as Sonic began to stir. He looked up at his friends, obviously confused.

"W-what are you staring at?" They all sighed in relief.

"Nothing…" All 3 said in unison.

"I know you're hiding something, but I'm not going to push it…I might get mad…" Sonic sighed. He hated having to be so careful.

"Okay…so, what now? I need someone to balance the energy with a chaos explosion, and only Shadow can do it, so how do we wake him up?" Knuckles asked. Sonic looked at him, surprised that he hadn't figured it out.

"The Master Emerald could completely recharge him, if you could get him there…" Knuckles perked up a bit.

"I can connect with Master automatically, if it's still in Mystic Ruins… bring Shadow over here." Manic wriggled his arms under the unconscious Shadow and carried him over to Knuckles. When Manic let go and Shadow when rolled off his arms, the midnight hedgehog slowly opened his eyes.

"What going on?"

"You passed out, and I'm going to recharge you. You need to be limp for this to work, so relax." Shadow's eyes opened wider.

"I passed out?" Knuckles nodded, then closed his eyes.

"Just relax…and the rest of you-shut up. I need to concentrate." Knuckles crossed his legs and set Shadow on his lap. He started chanting in a low voice, his words unfamiliar. _Must be using the language of his ancestors… _Sonic thought, fascinated. After a minute or so, the echidna slowly started rising off of the floor, taking Shadow with him. A faint green glow surrounded them both. Knuckles' eyes suddenly snapped open, the whites a deep emerald green. He was vibrating insanely fast, and Shadow gently floated out his arms. Shadow was covered in the glow as well, and it surrounded him like a cocoon. Sonic could see the faint outline of his rival inside the energy orb, curled up on himself, and quivering gently. Sonic, Manic, and Tails watched awestruck for a moment before Knuckles began lowering towards the ground.

"Wow…that was way past cool…" Sonic murmured. Shadow was also gently lowering, though not quite as graceful as the Guardian had. He ended up on his back, looking like he was unconscious again.

"Did it work?" Tails asked anxiously. Shadow answered, standing up and pushing on the limiters.

"I'm back to normal, if that's what you're asking." Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Manic turned to Knuckles, curious.

"Why did you never do that during a battle? You'd be limitless!" Knuckles shook his head.

"Sure, it'd be useful, but I need complete silence for it to work. Besides, it takes a bit out of the Master. Speaking of which, how are we going to get to the Floating Island?" They looked at Shadow.

"Fine…" Knuckles grabbed Shadow's glove, then Tails held his. Manic picked up Sonic, then walked over to Shadow's other side.

"Shadow, considering we don't have the emeralds, do you think you can use Sonic?" Shadow let out a big sigh.

"Probably…give me his hand." Sonic lifted his glowing mitt to Shadow's hand. Shadow closed his eyes-transporting this many people wasn't going to be easy.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" Sonic felt like his DNA was being scrambled, his organs turning inside out. He started screaming as loudly as he could, the sound lost in the moment of transport. There was no sound in the strange dimension they were in for a moment while teleporting. Tails heard Sonic when they set down, and let go of Knuckles as soon as his shoes touched grass. Sonic was on the ground, clutching his stomach and moaning.

"S-sonic? A-are you…" Sonic pushed himself to his knees, only to turn his face to the ground and throw up what little was in his stomach.

"Sonic!" Manic rushed over, rubbing his brother's shoulder and trying to comfort him. He was shocked when Sonic slapped his hand away.

"Bro?" Sonic was quivering.

"Th-the chaos energy…the island uses the Master to stay afloat…it's everywhere…run, he's coming…" Manic stepped back in shock when his twin slammed his eyes shut. Tails took a step back as well.

"What are you talking about? Who's coming?" Tails was confused, but Shadow figured it out.

"Every one of us has a dark side…the chaos energy probably intensified Sonic's. We need to get out of here. _Now."_ Tails took to the air, looking back at the quivering Sonic before the foliage covered the trembling hedgehog.

_I hope he'll be alright…this must be awful for Manic, seeing his brother like this…_ Tails shivered as he turned to the direction he'd seen Knuckles and the others last. The last thing that he heard was the bloodcurdling scream behind him, of Sonic losing the battle of keeping his sanity…

I know this one is shorter, but bear with me. Rate and review, please! (Thank you to those who already did review, whether for one chapter or throughout the whole thing. You inspire me!)


	8. Chapter 8

_What's going on?_

_It's over. I've won._

_NO!_

_It's useless, Sonic. You've fought Shadow, Robotnick, Iblis, even Metal. But there's one fight, no matter how hard you try, you simply can't win. No one can win against themselves. I said I was you… The second the negative chaos energy entered your DNA, you lost. It's always been futile…you've always tried to fool yourself into thinking you can win. _

_I'll commit suicide. I can't let you hurt them._

_Too late. In a moment, I'll have control. Then, you have to just sit back while I take care of your friends…_

_NO!_

_The time has come… You watch, like I had to for countless years. Now, let's see how you take this…_

_xxxx_

Tails raced above the treetops, going as fast as he could with fatigue draining his strength. Even at top speed, he couldn't get out of the way fast enough to escape the bone-chilling screams from behind him, under the brush. _Poor Sonic…we only have an hour and a half left, I hope he can regain control before then… _Tails had hardly noticed where he'd been flying, and ran smack into a big tree. The fox crumpled to the ground, barely conscious. He saw a shape, which looked vaguely like…

"Sonic?" Tails asked, before his eyes closed and he fell unconscious.

"Poor kid, he must have been exhausted…" Knuckles murmured. "I'll take you the rest of the way." Being completely attuned to the chaos energy radiating all around the island, the guardian used it to take flight. He almost didn't notice Manic sprawled out on the ground, his green fur and quills completely blending into the foliage. _I need to conserve energy, so I'll come back for him. _Knuckles flew as fast as he could and set Tails down at the foot of the Master Emerald alter. He concentrated, trying to be through while still conserving energy.

_Heal._ A few solitary sparks traveled out from the giant emerald, and headed towards the kit. When they sunk into his fur, Tails shot straight up, eyes wide.

"What happened?" Knuckles let out a sigh of relief, just as Shadow walked up.

"You passed out." Tails eyes widened, but he shook his head.

"W-where's Manic? And Sonic?" Shadow spoke up.

"I just saw Sonic. He's flailing like a madman and is clutching his head, yelling something about 'get out.' Tails stood up, testing his tails to see if they were flight ready yet.

"We need to help him!"

"Tails…" Shadow sighed, then broke the news to the fox. "I don't think there's anything we can do. Either Sonic wins, and we try and cure him, or…" Shadow's unspoken words set them all on edge.

_Or we have to take care of him. Permanently. _

_xxxx_

Back in the clearing, Sonic was losing the battle. His eyes were flickering between the creamy white of Positive Chaos and the red swirls of Negative. He continued twitching, but then, the pure white came less…and less…until…

_It's over. I have complete control._

_NO! IT CAN'T BE!_

_It's too late. I hope they scream…_

Dark Sonic slowly rose off the ground, lifting his arms and legs experimentally.

"Hmm…interesting. You had so much power; you just never used it to the full extent. It's time to test my limits." He lifted one arm and formed a huge energy ball-the black electrical sparks crackling and popping as they danced over the surface. With the flick of one finger, it shot through the brush above him, clearing a path straight up. He ascended slowly, enjoying Sonic's begging as he cried inside, a prisoner of his own mind.

_Why? How did you get so strong?_

He took a moment to think, deciding to answer out loud.

"Every time you used the emeralds, little bits of negative energy were stored inside. They added up, and other dark form transformations-such as Darkspine, Dark, and even Werehog, also fueled the flame. I am just as-if not more-powerful then you ever were. Now, to see about your friends…" Dark Sonic shot up, trying to keep track of where he was.

"If I remember correctly, the emerald alter is that way…" He remarked absently, turning towards the setting sun. "If they're smart, they'll be there." He began flying towards the sunset, ready for anything.

xxxx

Manic turned over, rolling over a stick-and bolted up. _Oh great, I must have fallen asleep! Need to get the alter…but which way? _Manic started looking around frantically, before he heard a rustle in the brush.

"H-hello? S-sonic? Tails? Who is it?" Manic let out a sigh of relief when Knuckles stepped out.

"Come with me. We need to get out of the forest." Manic pushed himself, refreshed.

"So, why do we need to get out?" Knuckles didn't turn around, but Manic could hear the pain in his voice when he spoke.

"There's been a spike in negative chaos energy. Sonic…Sonic lost." Manic stopped dead.

"W-what? What are you talking about?" He touched his forehead, mind spinning out of control.

"Shadow's trying to think of a way to fix it, but until he can…Sonic is a threat-that must be…must be taken care of." Knuckles started shaking, and Manic imagined he must be doing the same. They walked in silence the rest of the way, and when Manic saw Tails, his heart sunk even further. The fox's head was in his hands, and he could hear racking sobs coming from his friend, tremors racking his small frame. Manic walked over, his feet like lead. He started rubbing Tails' trembling, making a futile attempting to comfort him. Suddenly, Shadow leapt up.

"I got it!" Manic whipped his head around, hardly daring to believe it.

"What?" Shadow let out a rare smile.

"We fight. Then, when he gets close enough, I grab him and overload his body with chaos energy from the Master. Hopefully, it'll separate the Evil Sonic and the normal one. I'll be tricky, but we just might be able to pull it off." Tails lifted his head slowly.

"And if it doesn't work? Or if you mess up?" Shadow only stared at the fox, as if to tell him telepathically.

"NO! It's too risky!" Shadow tried to look sympathetic, but his eyes didn't lose their cruel edge.

"We have no choice. It's Sonic or Mobius…one death versus thousands. Considering how close you are to Sonic, you'd be one of the first to go, along with Manic, Sonia, even Amy. He'd have special torture for you…" Tails' eyes started brimming with tears again.

"N-no…there must be another way…" Knuckles walked over and laid his glove on Tails' quivering shoulder.

"If there was another way, we'd use it. For now, this is all we can do…so get ready. We need to lure him to the alter somehow, and I'm sure he'd follow-"

"No need." Manic interrupted. "He's on his way already." He pointed towards the sky, and they all saw the unmistakable shape coming closer.

_This is the last stand, Sonic. I only hope it isn't yours…_

Rate and review please!


	9. Chapter 9

Manic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow braced themselves for the last stand. Manic and Tails were shaking, Shadow was grinning, and Knuckles was unconsciously edging closer to the Master Emerald. After another minute, Tails could make out Sonic's face-and what he saw chilled him to the core. Sonic's eyes were dark red, with thin white swirls, and he was grinning, his mouth slightly open to reveal sharp fangs. His face didn't look much different from the first time Tails had seen it in the containment unit in Robotnick's lab, but at the same time, nothing was the same. When he had smiled then, he'd been trying to reassure Tails and Manic that he was all right-now, Tails could swear it looked like he looked ready to take a bite out of him. His eyes held a cruel edge, bearing eerie resemblance to Shadows' the first time the hedgehogs had met-Sonic was ready to kill. Tails let out an apprehensive shiver, terrified of what to expect from this monstrosity. _I knew it would be bad, but this isn't Sonic! Where's my older brother?_ He turned to Manic, and saw that the hedgehog was past trembling-he was standing stock-still, staring at what had used to be his brother. He turned his head slowly to look at Tails, and they both slowly nodded. _We have to pull through this. For Sonic. _Tails braved a glace back, and saw Knuckles rubbing the Master slowly, lost in thought. Shadow was nowhere to be seen-_probably lying in wait now._

Sonic landed slowly, milking the suspense. He took in all of his friends faces-worried, horrified, and downright scared. _Good._

"I see you were expecting me. All the better that you're all in the same place. It'll be faster that way." He performed a sweeping glare, checking for something. "Where's Faker?" Knuckles, the bravest, decided to answer and stepped forward.

"None of your business. Now, what do want?" Sonic's grin widened, his attitude multiplied.

"I would've thought you'd know, knucklehead. I want to use the Master." Knuckles backed up again, and held his hands out in a futile effort to protect the gem.

"Over my cold, dead body." Knuckles replied, baring his teeth. It didn't have same effect as Sonic's fangs, and the newly black hedgehog chuckled.

"I believe that can be arranged…" Sonic suddenly shot forward, his speed doubled. There was zero time for Knuckles to dodge, and he got knocked out of the way, clutching his chest and groaning in a low voice. Sonic whipped around, using his speed to his advantage. Manic and Tails faces were now filled with pure terror.

"Ahh, now you see that I'm not kidding. Who's next?" He turned to Manic. "If you only could her your brother weeping right now…it's pitiful." Tails' heart suddenly jumped.

_I'll grab him and overload his body with chaos energy from the Master. Hopefully, it'll separate the Evil Sonic and the normal one. _

_Sonics' still in there! There's a chance we can save him! _Tails looked up with renewed hope. Sonic noticed this, and turned to look at his former little brother.

"Do you think you stand a chance against me? I trained with you for years-I know every trick you could ever pull, and can react before you even think it. Face it fox, it's over." Tails bit his lip, trying to hold back tears. He choked out his next sentence, trying not to sound like he was on the edge of breaking down. _He sounds so cold…_

"S-Sonic's still in there. We'll g-get him out." Sonic frowned for a moment, before taking a step forward, cool and calculated.

"Let's see how you get him out when you're not breathing…" Sonic held his palm open, a huge energy ball blossoming out from the black material. It crackled for a moment before Sonic turned his palm towards Tails, like he was telling him 'stop.' The ball hovered for a moment before streaking towards his best friend. The fox was frozen in place, and closed his eyes, waiting for death. He held his arms up to cover his face, but suddenly, the noise stopped. He cracked an eye open, he let both of his arms fall to his sides, hanging limply, muscles in shock. Manic was lying quivering on the ground before him, black sparks dancing around his singed chest. Suddenly, his eyes closed. Tails' heart almost stopped, until he noticed the hedgehog was still breathing. He turned up in rage towards his best friend, before he let out a slow breath, shocked. Sonic was clutching his head and screaming. His eyes were fading between red and white, and he fell to his knees. His trembling scared Tails-it looked like Sonic was going into shock. The hedgehog lifted his head, moving as if through molasses.

"Kill…me…or he'll…kill you…" Tails could only stare in shock. His knees started shaking, and the fox almost collapsed.

"N-no... SHADOW! _NOW!_" Shadow suddenly leapt from the bushes, rocket shoes adding to his speed. He shot straight for Sonic, then shoved his rival into a headlock.

"Tails! The emeralds!" Tails raced over to Manic and pulled them out of his knapsack. Manic twitched, before Tails threw the precious gems into Shadow's outstretched hands. Sonic was twitching less, and Tails could tell the darker side was winning. Shadow hauled Sonic up to the emerald alter, while Tails ran over to Knuckles.

"C'mon, get up, we need you!" The guardian groaned once before rolling into Tails' arms. Tails, in a fit of strength, picked him up and raced over to the altar. _It's now or never. _He helped steady the unstable echidna, keeping his hands on his shoulders until he was standing up straight. Tails slowly backed away, not sure what would happen if he was in the chaos epicenter, and not wanting to find out.

Shadow held on as tight to the red-hot Sonic as he could, before throwing a chaos spear from 2 feet from his head to knock him out. He threw the unconscious Sonic on top of the Master Emerald. Shadow then grabbed the chaos emeralds and tossed them next to Sonic, before turning to Knuckles.

"KNUCKLES! NOW OR NEVER!" The unsteady guardian lifted his hands, trying to concentrate.

"The servers are the seven chaos. Chaos is power. Power enriched by the heart." Sonic slowly started lifting in the air, surrounded by a bright green transparent bubble.

"Master emerald, show us the real Sonic, and restore the chaos emeralds!" In the middle of this, Sonic woke up, but it was too late. He started pounding on the bubble, but to no avail. Tails watched, amazed, as Sonic started glowing bright green, before the bubble's green darkened to the point where nothing could be seen inside it. A tortured screaming escaped the emerald prison, and Tails couldn't believe such a sound could even be possible. A huge bolt of energy shot out of the bubble and entered the chaos emeralds, jolting the color back. Suddenly, the bubble split into two, one a watery blue, and the other a pure black. Both descended, blue in front of the Master, black behind it. Tails slowly walked up to the altar, legs like jell-o. Shadow was standing next to the Master, looking astonished down at something. Tails raced up to him, past the newly reenergized Knuckles.

"What happened?" Shadow only pointed down, and Tails stepped back out of pure shock. Sonic-normal, blue, Sonic-was lying unconscious on the ground. As Tails watched, he groaned and rolled over. Suddenly, he sat up and rubbed his head, opening his eyes. Tails sighed in relief to see they were emerald green.

"Oh, man-I feel like my insides are gone. Ergh…" Sonic attempted to stand up, falling as soon as he pushed himself to his knees. "I feel like-"He was cut short by the wind getting squeezed out of his lungs by a sobbing Tails who'd raced up to hug him.

"I-I thought I'd lost you! You're my only family, if I ever lost you, I don't know what I'd do!" Sonic attempted to pry Tails off, but decided to leave him.

"I thought I was going to lose you too...And the worst part was knowing I could've done it myself-and there was nothing I could do about it." Shadow interrupted the two friend's heartfelt speeches.

"Touching, but what happened to the Dark Sonic?" Tails turned, breaking from Sonic, before answering.

"What?" Shadow sighed-he'd been afraid of this.

"If normal Sonic is here, where'd all the dark energy go?" Sonic stepped back, eyes full of horror.

"I felt splitting from him-he's still alive…" Knuckles collapsed behind them, and all 3 turned to see what happened.

"S-Sonic's right…there's a huge negative aura still here…it's worse than before…" Suddenly, a dark, glowing figure stepped out from behind the Master Emerald. He grinned, fangs even sharper than before.

"_Now, this should be interesting…"_

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	10. Chapter 10

Sonic let out a gasp-he hadn't been expecting that. Dark Sonic (Henceforth referred to as Dark) took another step, letting the trio take in his full appearance. The black glow had gotten darker, and was thicker. He was a bit leaner, and his eyes were black, with maroon pupils. His gloves and shoes were also black, with one maroon smear on each, looking like blood.

"_How ironic, that in freeing yourself you also freed me. Now, I will have no interference from my…'conscience'" Sonic_ tried to growl at his evil counterpart, but only succeeded in moaning. _I look pathetic…but I have no energy left after the separation. If only…the emeralds!_ Sonic knew they were still on top of the Master, but also knew that his twin was twice as fast as he was. _No way to outrun him…or outsmart him, because we share the same mind…the only way I'd even survive for more than 10 seconds is if I team up with the others, but even 'normal' I could beat them. With this enhanced version, they don't stand a chance. _Sonic tried to push himself up, but fell again. He was completely exhausted-both physically, from the transformation, and running off little sleep and no food, and mentally, from fighting Dark. Both ways, Sonic was spent. He gave it 2 minutes, not even fighting, before he collapsed. Sonic leaned on Tails, pushing himself up for the third time.

"W-what are you g-going to d-do?" Sonic sounded weak, even in his own ears. Dark let out a quiet chuckle, the sound a low warning siren for what was to come.

"_Look at you…barely able to stand, needing the support of friends for everything. You're pathetic…I'm going to make you watch your friends go down before I kill you. It's much more satisfying to see you crying before you die…"_ Sonic whispered discreetly out of the edge his mouth to Shadow,

"Emeralds. _Now._" Shadow, instantly grasping the plan, used his rocket shoes to fly up to the top of the Master as quietly as he could, trying not to attract the attention of Dark. He gathered all 7 and dropped them behind Sonic. Sonic curled his palms around the emeralds, before taking a deep breath. He slowly started rising into the air. The emeralds began swirling around him, much to the amusement of Dark.

"_Do you really think you can beat me by going super? I saw Shadow stealing the emeralds…Super form runs out…I'm forever." _Sonic tried to block out the voice. He felt a sudden power up, and knew it had worked when he opened his eyes. He'd lifted his hands in front of him, palms out, and his arms were a pure golden yellow.

"This is it…Sonic versus Sonic…even with Metal it wasn't quite so literally me fighting myself. Some people-" here he turned to look pointedly at Shadow, "-fight inner darkness, but now I actually am…funny, when you think about it." With every word, Sonic was mocking his counterpart, and Dark was getting more ticked with every passing second.

"_You're no tough guy Sonic. I'm the one who gave you the guts to do what had to be done. Now, you're a pathetic weakling, not able to bring yourself to hurt even me. It's sad, really, but I think I'll still let you watch your friends…die." _ He hissed out the last word, and turned to face Knuckles. The guardian held up his fists, having pulled shovel claw from somewhere.

"I'm not going without a fight." Dark let out a smug smile.

"_I know."_ He slowly folded himself up, curling into a ball. His head was tucked into his knees, and his arms were holding his legs. Suddenly, Dark sprung open, entire body on fire with pure black chaos energy. Knuckles let out a small gasp, shocked that anything could use so much chaos at his small size. He fell to his knees, particularly sensitive to the negative energy because of having just been recharged by the Master. The echidna clutched his stomach, just below his white marking, before turning to the ground to throw up loudly. Shadow looked at Dark, furious that he would take down Knuckles down so easily without a second thought. He skated over to under Sonic, then concentrated. Sonic, understanding what Shadow was trying to do, reached down and grabbed the black hedgehogs' hand, pulling him into the air. Both boys closed their eyes, and Shadow quivered for a moment, still only held up by only Sonic's hand. Shadow transformed slower then Sonic had, the emeralds still being inside Sonic. The golden glow started at the tip of his quills, spreading slowly down his head before moving along his chest, lingering on the chest hair. After 10 seconds, Shadow was as super as Sonic. Dark had seen the whole thing, a smug grin on his face.

"_Really, Shadow? Going soft enough to help Sonic when I said he would face me alone?" _Shadow sighed.

"You never said that-besides, now at least now it's a fair fight."

"_Oh, I don't think it is. Even as with you 2 as super, I have the power of Dark Sonic, the Werehog, even Darkspine Every time Sonic got mad, I grew all the more powerful. All together, I'm practically immortal."_ Shadow growled, baring his small fangs, fists balling up at his sides.

"No one kills Sonic except me." Sonic turned to look at Shadow.

"Nice to know you're thinking of me." He said, sarcasm biting his undertone. Suddenly, Sonic had a spark of an idea-but Shadow would never agree. Would he? Sonic leaned over to his older counterpart, and whispered his plan into Shadow's ear.

"No _way._" Shadow hissed back.

"What other choice do we have? If we don't, we're toast. Besides, it's not permanent." Shadow gave a dejected sigh.

"All right, but you realize it's only because of the situation." Sonic nodded, pleased Shadow had agreed so easily-saving precious time that they didn't have. Both floated backwards, until they were on top of the Master. Sonic set down, then, grabbing hands with Shadow, pulled him down next to him. They closed their red eyes again, and squeezed hands tighter, both, although not willing to admit it, a bit nervous it wouldn't work. Sonic's thoughts were mirroring Shadows'-_Will it work? Will it hurt? Could I use this to beat Dark? _They Master suddenly glowed brighter, a large amount of energy flowing into the two hedgehogs standing on top of it. They both rose into the air, concentrating with every fiber of their beings. Sonic and Shadow's quills floated freely, unrestricted by the laws of gravity. Sonic visibly shivered for a moment, before the two shouted in unison-

"_**CHAOS CONTROL!" **_ When they spoke the words, suddenly both bodies started rising even higher, tremors racking hedgehog bodies as they drifted closer to each other. A white light enveloped them both, and a single scream sounded from the center before the light ebbed away. Tails eyes widened-Sonic and Shadow were gone. Instead, there was one golden being, looking like Shadow, but with a red stripe on the rocket shoes. His quills were flying everywhere, looking vaguely like Manic's', only much thicker. His eyes were still closed, and the emeralds lifted into the air, glowing even brighter than usual. They began floating gently around, circling the hedgehog. After another moment of suspense, his eyes slowly cracked open…

"So, this is how it ends. Me against you." He sounded like an echo of Sonics and Shadows' voices, as if they were saying the same thing at the same time. Dark floated backwards, a bit shocked. The new hedgehog grinned.

"Dark, meet Super Shadic…"


	11. Chapter 11

Shadic smiled, knowing that now, it was a fair fight.

"Well, I guess we see who's 'immortal' now…" He suddenly leapt forward, eyes blazing with chaos fire. Dark dodged, but only barely. His mouth hung open, completely shocked. Shadic flew in a circle before turning to face his adversary.

"The major advantage to this form? Probably that I get both Sonic and Shadow's powers-doubled. So, I'm just as fast as you, just as strong as you, and have the advantage because I have Shadow's moves, as well as combos that you don't even know about." Dark faltered in midair for a moment, before turning to face Shadic.

"_That may be, but I have new moves as well. And I aim to kill…" _He suddenly lunged forward, and Shadic leapt higher, avoiding him by inches. He looked back down at Dark, grinning as Sonic took control for a brief moment and stuck his tongue out at him. Dark narrowed his eyes at the same time Shadic did, Shadow not being amused with Sonic's now partly playful attitude. Shadic spoke, but with a darker, more Shadow-like tone.

"It's bad enough I have to share a body with you, now will you quit messing around?" He paused for a moment, then turned back to Dark.

"Good. Now, let's get started, shall we?" Shadic lunged forward, speed twice that of sound. All Tails could see was a yellow blur and a black blur flying upwards. The fight was amazing to watch-2 colored streaks were hitting each other, bouncing away, and hitting again. It was quite the sight to see (and to hear-with every move they were breaking the sound barrier.) Tails was sad that Manic was missing it…or was he?

Manic slowly turned over, every muscle in his body aching like crazy. He opened his eyes, seeing nothing but green for a moment. _Where am I? Oh yeah…_He groaned, then rolled over again, pushing himself until he was sitting up. _What's going on? _Manic turned towards Tails, but the fox didn't notice. He was looking up at something, completely mesmerized. Manic lifted his head-and sat up, mouth hanging open. There were 2 Sonics! No, wait. Only one looked like Sonic-the other looked like it was a mix of Sonic and Shadow. Manic sunk his palms into the moist ground, and managed to push himself up. He stumbled over to Tails, still woozy.

"What the _hell _is going on here?" He enunciated, gripping Tails shoulder. Tails turned to look at him, looking shocked for a moment before replying.

"I'm not completely sure…Dark Sonic knocked you out, but apparently it caused so much turmoil in his mind that Sonic regained control for a moment. Knuckles separated Sonic from Dark, bring him back to normal, but Dark got loose during the separation. Sonic and Shadow went super, then combined, forming something called-"Tails paused, massaging his temples, trying to remember,"What did he call it? Oh yeah…Super Shadic. Now they're battling it out, and all we can do is hope Shadic wins." Manic gasped-for Shadow to agree to this it must be almost hopeless.

"H-how long have I been out?"

"I'm not sure…probably around 20 minutes…" _Wow, all that happened in only 20 minutes? _Manic looked up again-now all he could see were 2 blurs.

"How long can they last?"

"I'm not sure…" Tails replied. "Dark seems limitless, and both of them can use the Master. Until someone gives up?" Manic looked to skyward-both hedgehogs were floating at a standoff, glaring at each other. The phrase 'if looks could kill' flashed through Manic's head.

"We could be here for weeks…"

xxxxxxx

In the air, the standoff continued. Both parties were breathing hard, and Shadic was edging towards the Master emerald. _The disadvantage is in this form, I'm stronger, but I wear out faster. I have to find a way to recharge. _

_That might not be necessary._

_What do you mean, Shadow?_

_We're still wearing the inhibitor rings, aren't we?_

_NO! We'll probably pass out! Anyways, I doubt even that will help._

_I don't think we have a choice-Dark's cracking his knuckles. He's ready to go at it again._

_Well, maybe… _Sonic didn't get a chance to finish his thought. Dark had jumped forward, aiming for Shadic's chest.

"What are you doing?" Dark only grinned, the last rays of sunset glinting off his razor sharp fangs.

"_You'll see…" _Knuckles stirred, then walked over to Tails. Suddenly, Tails' head shot up in shock.

"SHADIC! HE'S TRYING TO RECOMBINE WITH YOU!" Shadic turned to look at Tails, confused, before Dark made his final move. He shot forward and, with a black energy spear, slashed Shadic's chest, right under the tuft of fur. Shadic started sinking lower, eyes closing, before Dark dissolved into a million black particles. The swarm of Chaos energy formed into a tornado-like shape before funneling into the wound. Shadic started twitching, before letting out a loud shriek. His eyes snapped open, one white with a red pupil, the other pure black. He started flying up and down, left and right, looking totally insane. He was screaming the whole time, loud, ear-shattering piecing shrieks. Knuckles leaned on Manic, who then let go of Tails. All 3 boys were staring in amazement.

"What…what's happening?" Manic murmured. Tails turned, face pale as a ghost.

"They're fighting for control of the body…Sonic already fought him, but Shadow's not used to even more darkness, and it's driving him crazy. If someone doesn't win in the next few minutes, Shadows' going to have gone completely insane. Which is Dark's plan, of course…Both need to contribute to separate, and Sonic would be stuck sharing a body with an insane psycho … then, Dark can regain control easier, if he ever wants to…" Manic looked back up, now truly scared for his brother. Suddenly, Shadic stood stock still, before turning and flying for the Master emerald. Knuckles stiffened, trying to move over to protect his precious emerald, but collapsed. Shadic knelt down on one knee, pressing both palms to the giant gem. He floated back into the air, surrounded by a black energy aura, looking for all the world like Darks' had. Suddenly, Shadic started twitching madly, vibrating so fast he almost looked like wasn't moving. Tails shielded his eyes, the light being too bright. A moment before he closed his eyes, he saw Shadow, lowering gently towards the alter. Knuckles gasped-Manic was running towards the Alter, determined to help his brother. Sonic looked normal, except his eyes were closed, and he was floating peacefully above the Master. Shadow's eyes slowly opened, before he bolted up.

"Wha…" Manic ran over to catch him, before he fell off the emerald.

"Sonic needs help!" Shadow shook his head, apparently confused.

"He kept thinking of Maria…trying to confuse me…" Manic noticed Shadow still had the limiters on.

"Help…" Manic's head shot up, quills rustling.

"B-bro…?" Sonic was standing in mid-air, clutching his head, palms sinking into his fur.

"Use-use Shadow. And Knux. I need an explosion big enough to knock me out for a long time." Manic stared at his brother, tears brewing.

"W-why?" Sonic sighed, then winced, as if the slight action had hurt.

"I-I can beat him…if I have enough time…" Manic heard a slight noise next to him. When he turned, he saw Shadow was pulling off the limiters.

"NO! There must be another way!" Knuckles stumbled up, then rested his hand on the crying hedgehogs' shoulder.

"If there was, it would have already been done by now. He'll wake up, eventually…" Manic sniffed, then brushed away his tears.

"A-all right…" Shadow helped Knuckles over to his spot on the altar. The echidna cleared his throat, then let out a nasty sounding cough.

"Let's get this over with…" Knuckles took a deep breath, then grabbed Shadow's glove. They both held up their hands, before intoning at the same time,

"_The servers are the seven chaos. Chaos is power. Power enriched by the heart." _Sonic curled into a ball above them, still twitching. Shadow let go of Knuckles' hand gently, before floating into the air. He was glowing red, and waves of energy rolled off him. He curled up as well, closing his eyes before doing so. Tails and Manic held their breath, both terrified. Suddenly, Shadow flew open, eyes pure red.

"_**CHAOS BLAST!" **_The wave of pure energy headed straight for Sonic, who had unfolded to feel the full impact.

"_SONIC!" _Tails and Manic cried, tears rolling down both faces. Sonic glowed for a moment, before his body got thrown backwards, looking like a ragdoll. Shadow dropped like a stone, completely unconscious. Tails ran up to the black hedgehog, while Manic raced up past Knuckles to pick up Sonic.

"Sonic…bro…it'll be okay…" He cradled his brother, rocking him like a baby. The sight was funny, and Tails would have laughed, had he not been crying.

Tails turned to Knuckles, who was on his knees.

"H-how long will Sonic be out?" Knuckles managed to push his head up enough to respond.

"D-depends. Could be a few days, it could be a year. Only Sonic knows. Because he freely accepted it, he's only going to wake up when he's ready." With that being said, Knuckles passed out next to Shadow. Tails' teared-up eyes met Manic.

_Now…we wait._

Rate and review, PLEASE! This isn't the end!


	12. Chapter 12

Manic rubbed his brothers' back gently. Sonic was barely breathing, but that seemed alright, seeing Knuckles had said that he had put himself into a deep coma. Shadow was still unconscious, and there was no way Manic could transport them back in his woozy state, so all they could do was wait. Tails walked over-he had been doing a very doctor-like examination of Shadow and Knuckles.

"They'll be fine, although Knuckles seems to be sporting a fever. Shadow's just completely drained. We might be here for a while, seeing as even after he wakes up, he might not be up for teleporting any time soon. I'll set up a camp for us, if you think you're up for helping." Manic sighed, hating to leave Sonic. He knew there was nothing he could do now, so he decided to help.

"I'll be okay. I feel better already." This was true, and Manic proved it by standing up and walking up To Tails. Tails nodded, then pointed to a field a few hundred feet away, completely clear except for a tree in the middle.

"Think you can get rid of the tree?" Manic nodded, a grin slipping past his lips despite his dismal attitude. This was the kind of stuff he loved doing.

"Got it. Stand back…" He stepped forward a little, so to not disturb Sonic, Knuckles, or Shadow, then touched his amulet. There was a bright flash of white light, before his drum set appeared in front of him. He started pounding his set, aiming for the tree. It fell after only a few seconds. _Earthmovers, you never fail me_ he thought, satisfied. Suddenly, he remembered the last time he had used the drums-when they were breaking Sonic out of the tank, back in Robotnick's lab. It had been only 2 days, but it seemed like years ago.

_You pulled through that, bro…you can make it through this. Just fight it… _Manic's whole body shot up when Tails gently laid a hand on his other adopted brother's shoulder.

"You okay?"Manic realized that he'd been shaking.

"Yea…just tired. I just want to sleep under the stars tonight, okay?" Tails nodded-he understood that Manic wanted some time alone. There was nothing threatening enough on Angel Island to not let him sleep outside-besides, that's how Knuckles always rested.

"I'll go get some soft leaves, so you can be more comfortable. You can go look over there." Tails said, pointing to the west. "I think you have a flashlight in your pack. I felt it when I was looking for the emeralds." Manic nodded, feeling around for the light. When he found 2, he tossed the other to Tails.

20 minutes later, Manic came back, arms full of leaves, and pack stuffed with even more. His eyes were red, and Tails could tell he'd been crying.

"Wow, you found a lot…can I use some of those too?" Manic nodded, throat still a bit choked up. He pulled off his beige pack, and pulled all the leaves out of it. Handing them to Tails, he quickly snatched his hand back. Tails was puzzled, but then he noticed Manic's gloves were tear-stained.

"I-I had time to make 2 tents, if you want to use one…" Manic nodded again, then crawled into the low entrance. After a minute, he poked his head out again.

"Can I have Sonic?" Tails was about to argue, but, seeing Manic's face, agreed.

"Okay, I'll go get him…you stay here." Tails walked back to the altar, everything the same except Knuckles had woken up. He was shaking Shadow, but the black hedgehog was stone still except for his gentle breathing.

"He's fine, just exhausted." Tails informed Knuckles, before walking up to Sonic. He looked just like he had 20 minutes ago, except his face was twisted, as if he was in pain.

"Poor Sonic…" Tails murmured, wiggling his arms under his friends' limp frame. He carried him back to their campsite, feeling a bit happier upon seeing the joy in Manic's face when he saw Sonic. When Tails handed him his brother, however, his face fell.

"He-he looks like he's hurting…" Tails sighed.

"He's fighting Dark…It's better than him being dead…right? I'm sure he's doing his best to wake up…" Manic shivered.

"I know…but he taught me how to fit in…be normal…without him, I'd probably be still sleeping in alleys, stealing, and having no family to speak of…Sonic gave me purpose." Having admitted his feelings, Manic ducked into his tent before starting to cry again. Tails could hear him, and decided to give the hedgehog some needed space. He crawled into his tent as well, and before falling into a restless sleep, managed to give Manic one last word of comfort.

"Sleep well…"

xxx

It was pitch black, and Tails was walking alone. He could feel cool grass under his feet, but he only wanted to get Sonic and go home. He heard a stick crack behind him, and whipped around.

"S-sonic? Is that you?" Tails sighed in relief when Sonic stepped out, but suddenly froze. Sonic looked the same, except his fur was black and his eyes were closed. He floated towards Tails, arms hanging limply at his sides.

"Sonic? What happened?" Sonic grinned, his teeth sharp fangs, stained with blood.

"I'm dead, Tails. And you're next…" Tails turned and tried to run, but his feet were glued to the ground. He screamed, but no sound came out. His tails were stuck together, so he couldn't fly…Sonic came closer, until he grabbed Tails and started shaking him, laughing maniacally…

Tails bolted awake, entire body coated in sweat. He was breathing hard, and Knuckles was gripping the foxes' sides and was shaking him vigorously.

"TAILS! WAKE UP! You're having a nightmare!" Tail blinked, then sat up, swiveling his head and taking in his surroundings.

"Where am I?" Knuckles, satisfied that Tails was all right, let go.

"You're on Angel Island. Manic is in the tent next to you. Are you okay?" Tails started rubbing his head. _It seemed so real…_

"Just a bad dream…"

"A really bad dream, judging from the way you were screaming." Tails started blushing, embarrassed.

"Did I wake you up?' Knuckles shook his head.

"The sun's been up for a few hours already. Manic got up a few minutes ago, but he was sleeping pretty deeply through the whole thing. You're clear. Oh, and I think Shadow can take you back to the mainland now." Tails pushed himself until he was standing up.

"I think we'll go now, then, if Manic's ready…" Knuckles nodded.

"Probably a good idea…the tents are made of leaves and such so you don't need to take them down." Tails crawled out of the makeshift tent, with Knuckles behind him. Manic was waiting at the altar. He was carrying Sonic, and his eyes were a bit less red. Shadow was standing in front of the Master, tossing the red emerald and looking bored.

"All right, if you're all ready…call me when Sonic wakes up." Knuckles said, waving. Shadow grabbed Tail hand, and Tails barely had time to grab Manic before Shadow yelled,

"CHAOS CONTROL!" Manic squeezed Sonic even tighter with his right hand.

_You can pull through this…_

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	13. Chapter 13

Manic felt like he was being twisted inside-out. Partly because of transport, but mostly because of Sonic.

_Wake up, bro…just open your eyes and tell me you're okay…that's all I ask. _Unsurprisingly, Sonic didn't wake up. He only snuggled closer his brother, moaning. They rematerialized, landing on Shadow's front porch. Tails let go of Shadow quickly, eyes a bit glazed.

"I guess we'll be going now…" Shadow nodded. Before he turned to walk away, he said one last thing.

"Sonic-Sonic forced me out. It used almost the last of his strength, I could tell. He saved my life, and I'm grateful. If you tell him…" He left that open, and both boys knew not to trouble Sonic with this bit of info.

"Don't worry, we won't tell him," Manic agreed. He shifted Sonic slightly to wave at Shadow before following Tails out of the gate. He cradled his brother the whole way, not even looking where he was going, just following Tails blindly. After a bit-it could have been 2 minutes or 2 hours, Manic wouldn't know-they ended up at Tails' workshop again. Tails cleared a path; heading to the very table Sonic had been on just the day before.

"Lay him there…I'll hook him up to the monitors, and see if I can get some nutrients into his body." Manic shook his head, squeezing his brother. Tails let out a big sigh, but continued.

"Manic, I know you don't want to let go, but there's nothing we can do. He hasn't eaten in 3 weeks. Even in the midst of this trouble, he needs some kind of nourishment, or he may die, just because of starvation. You don't want him to die now, do you?" Manic sniffed, vision starting to get blurry because of his tears. He sighed before reluctantly handing Sonic over to Tails. The fox grabbed him quickly, then laid his friend out on the table gently. He suddenly had an idea.

"Manic, can you grab some cushions off the couch? It'll make him a bit more comfortable, because I get the feeling he's going to be here for a while…" Manic nodded, then walked across the room in a trance. He felt around until he had a few good sized pillows and a big cushion. Bringing them over to Tails, he backed away quickly, not wanting to be near anyone right then. Tails picked Sonic up and set the pillows under him one by one. Then, the fox proceeded to hook up an IV and a few nutrient tubes. Tails gently covered Sonic's mouth with a breathing mask. He didn't want to admit it, but it truly unnerved him to see Sonic like this. The hero's heart rate was incredibly slow (for him at least) and he was still barely breathing. Manic walked out of the room, about to start crying again. Now that he was alone, Tails finally broke down and started sobbing. His head fell into his hands, and his hair fell on top of his wet arms.

"Sonic, why did you have to do it? Why?" The fox sat like that for a long time, until he felt hollow because of having cried so much. _I've got to pull myself together. Sonic would-no. Don't think about that, you'll start crying again… _Tails let out one last sniffle, before wiping his eyes and turning back to Sonic. There was little change, except his heart rate was a tad faster. His eyes were squeezing shut, then relaxing, then squeezing, in a pattern. Tails watched, fascinated, before he heard footsteps behind him. There were 2 pairs of feet, so Tails swiveled around, curious. Manic was back, but he was holding his sister's hand.

"Sonia…" Tails said, at loss of what to say. The pink hedgehog yanked her hand out of Manic's, then ran up to rub her other brother's forehead.

"I knew something was wrong, but I never expected this!" Tail was puzzled for a moment, but remembered something-Manic, Sonic, and Sonia were triplets. Being the 'oldest', Sonia would probably have motherly intuition-especially since she was the one who was serious enough to hold the Underground together. Tails backed away, allowing Manic to step forward.

"I'll give you some time alone…" Tails murmured, backing out of the room. Before he left, he could hear dry sobs echoing across the room, while Manic rubbed Sonia's back gently, trying to calm her down.

"It'll be okay, sis…he'll be okay…" Tails closed the door with a small click. _I'll go see if there's any other way I can help Sonic. Is there anybody that can help with that? Back to the books…_

A few hours later, Tails had gotten no further than what he had already known. He heard sniffles behind him, so he stood up and turned around. Both Sonia and Manic were in the doorway, holding each others' shoulders. Sonia's eyes were red, and Manic was staring straight ahead.

"I-I think we're going to go now. I'll come back tomorrow, okay?" Manic said, taking a step forward and pulling Sonia with him. Tails nodded, then opened the door for the siblings. Both walked out slowly, as if in a trance. He watched them go, all the way down his driveway. When they turned into the street, Tails closed the door. He had turned away for only a minute when the door flew open again.

"Where's Sonic?" Tails was confused for a moment at the pink hedgehog-why was Sonia back already? Suddenly, he realized that it wasn't Sonia-it was Amy.

"He's in the back room…I'm just warning you-"Tails didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, because Amy had already taken off. Heaving a big sigh, he followed the girl, worried she might cry. _I might cry too…_ When he got to the workshop; all he heard was gentle breathing.

"Amy? You okay?" His eyes followed the scope of the room, until he caught sight of the hedgehogs. Amy was stroking her crush's chest, before she started hugging him.

"Amy…that might not be such a…" Suddenly, Sonics' heart rate spiked. His heart was racing, even faster then it usually did. Amy let go and backed away in shock.

"Did I…?" Tails ran forward, then shook his head.

"I think it's just coincidence." Tails hands flew over his computer keys, determined to figure out what was wrong. Sonics' face was twisting, obviously in lots of pain. Suddenly, Tails backed up.

"No… not yet…" Amy whipped her head around, quills clicking as they bounced off each other. She grabbed Tails, pulling him forward until he was an inch from her face.

"What. Is. Wrong. With. Sonic?" Tails pried her glove off his chest before responding.

"He's waking up…"

Rate and review, please!


	14. Chapter 14

Tails backed away.

"No…not yet…" Amy looked at Tails with shocked eyes.

"Don't you want him to wake up?"

"Of course I do…but it's just too early. Considering how deep of a coma that was, there's no way to be able to tell the effects on his body and mind." Amy looked as scared as Tails was now.

"I'll go call Manic; he'll want to be here…" Tail nodded distractedly. He was worried out his mind. Sonic was breathing much harder, and his hands were clenched._ Is there even the slightest possibility that I'm wrong? I hope so… _About 30 seconds later, Manic burst in, dragging Sonia behind him.

"What's going on?"

"I think he's starting to wake up…" Sonia let her head fall into her hands, but Manic rushed forward.

"Will he be okay?" Tail looked back at the screens-they were starting to fall again.

"I…don't know…" Sonic's face had settled a bit, and the heart rate was around his normally. "I think he pushed out of the coma, but now he's just sleeping. He's probably exhausted, physically and mentally. It'll be another 10 hours or so before he wakes up. You can stay here, if you want…" All 3 hedgehogs nodded at the same time.

"All right then, I'll get some cots. Do you want to stay in here?" More nods. "Okay, I was going to stay with him anyway." Tails flew up to the attic, heading straight for his 'camping' section. There were only 3 cots, but he also saw a foldable air mattress. _Forgot about that…I'll let Sonia use that one._ Throwing the beddings into a bag, he flew back downstairs. Everyone was in the exact same place, looking at Sonic breathing deeply. Tails cleared his throat.

"Ehhem-I got the cots. I found an air mattress too, so whoever wants that can have it." Sonia walked up, then handed the cots to the others.

"I'll take the mattress, okay?" Tails nodded, then pulled a few blankets out of the bag.

"Here, here, and here." He said, tossing them to Manic, Amy, and Sonia, then grabbing one for himself. As he unfolded his cot, his mind was in the clouds.

_Will Sonic be okay? Will he even remember this? Ohhh, I need to know! _Settling in wasn't easy, but the tired Tails finally managed to drift into an uneasy sleep. The last sound he heard was Manic dialing a communicator.

"Call Knuckles..."

xxx

The next morning, Tail woke up the sun, having forgotten to close the blinds the night before. Manic was snoring lightly, but Sonia was sitting up and rubbing her eyes, talking to Amy.

"So, anything new with you?" Amy shrugged, pulling on one of her boots.

"Not much… I bought a new hair band, got a few chili-dogs from that place down the street. I was going to give them to Sonic, but now…" Tails jumped in, seeing Amy was about to start crying.

"I'm sure he'll still want them. It's been-"Tails checked his watch, but was interrupted by the computer.

_**Miles-**_ Tails blushed, before turning to the computer.

"Yes? And don't call me that."

_**Tails, Sonic is waking up.**_

"Oh my gosh-already? All right…" Tails darted over to the table, where Sonic was rolling over. His eyes were starting to open, but his face was still twisted in pain.

"Sonic? Are you okay?" Sonia pushed her way past Tails, shoving him to the side. "Sonic?"

"Bro…" Manic grabbed Tails and pulled him back next to Sonic. "You all right?" Sonic moaned, curling himself up.

"Ergh..it hurts…" Tails face lit up.

"YOU'RE OKAY!" Sonic's hands flew up to his ears.

"Ouch…Tails, can you tone it down? My head hurts like crazy…" Tails took a step back, blushing a bit.

"I-I'm sorry…I was just excited." Manic put his hand on Sonic's shoulder, helping him sit up.

"Ohhh-thanks Manic." Sonic started rubbing his stomach.

"Tails, do you have anything to eat?" Tails laughed, then gestured to Amy.

"Amy, this is a good time…" Amy smiled, then flounced forward.

"Sonic, I brought you a chilli-dog…" Sonic's face lit up.

" Great! I love you, Amy!" Amy just about fainted. Giggling and blushing, she handed it to Sonic. Sonic held his hand out, the other still on his gurgling stomach. He downed the whole thing in 2 bites-one less then he usually did.

"Oh man, that tasted great…So, what happened? Why was I out? And why does my stomach hurt so badly?" Tails stepped forward-he was just glad that memory loss of the event was the apparently the only side effect.

"Well…it's kind of a long story…"

"I've got time." So Tail recapped everything that had happened during the past few days, starting with Sonic being DNA switched in the machine, and ending with his self-inflicted coma. Sonic's eyes were wide the whole time, gloves tightly clenched.

"Robotnick will pay." Tails was a bit shocked-Sonic never acknowledged the doctor by his real name-but shook it off.

"So, are you feeling any better?" Sonic shrugged, hopping off the table.

"A bit, but I'm still kind of sore, and hungry." Tails nodded, knowing Sonic could down 10 chili-dogs on a normal day, and he was probably even more ravenous now.

"'I'll go make something…" Before Tails left, he saw Amy squeezing the life out of Sonic.

"Owww-Get off Amy, I'm still sore…" Tails let out a quiet chuckle before closing the door.

In the kitchen, Tails bustled around, trying to be fast.

"Let's see…he likes extra onions and not too much cheese…" Tails muttered to himself distractedly. "There, that should do it for a while.' Tails had gathered 13 dogs onto a big plate, and marched back into the room. Sonic was talking with Manic, and Tails caught the word 'Shadic' twice.

"Sonic, I brought some more dogs, if you're still hungry…" Sonic turned around, smiling.

"Thanks bud." He grabbed the plate his friend was holding out.

"Want one?" Tails shook his head.

"I already had one while they were cooking…Manic?" Sonic's twin grinned.

"Who can resist a chili-dog?" Tails laughed as Manic snatched the plate, grabbing one before handing it back to his brother. Sonic scarfed the dogs, gratefully catching the napkin Tails tossed him. As Sonic enjoyed his meal, Tails turned to Manic.

"So, what were you two talking about?" Manic shrugged.

"Nothing much…I was explaining what I remembered of the fight. He seemed kind of shocked, especially that Shadow agreed to the whole Shadic thing. I was surprised at the time too, so this must be weird for him."

Tails shrugged. "At least it's over…by the way, I heard you calling Knuckles. Did he pick up?"

"Yea…he thought it was weird Sonic broke out of that coma so fast… Oh, and he said he'd come by to check Sonic's chaos levels, to make sure he's okay." Tails nodded-that was good.

"When did he say he'd be here?"

Manic shrugged. "I dunno. He said around 10." Tails glanced at his watch.

"Well, it's 9:30 now. He'll be here pretty soon. We can put away the cots while we wait." Sonic, who had finished eating, caught the tail end of the conversation.

"Knux is going to be here? What for?"

"He's just going to make sure there weren't any lingering side effects. Just checking. He's worried that much chaos energy might have messed up your system." Sonic sighed, then turned to Sonia.

"So, how're things going, sis?" His sister waved her hand dismissively.

"Fine…nothing near as exciting as what you usually do…I got a mani and a facial, but not much else exciting. Of course, seeing you looking dead took a dent out of the day…" Sonic rubbed his temples.

"Geez, this was exciting for everybody, but I can't remember anything…this must be how Shads felt on the Arc…" Suddenly, Sonic's head bolted up.

"What the heck…where did that come from?" Tails dropped his half-folded cot and raced over to Sonic.

"What?" Sonic rubbed his head, right under his ears, which were sticking straight up.

"I suddenly remembered something…but I never lived that…" Tails face took on a concerned look.

"What did you remember?"

"Running-no, being chased. Then, getting knocked out, and waking up in a big container. Then, just-oh no…" Tails started shaking Sonic, who had completely frozen.

"What? What else?" Sonic looked at Tails, eyes wide with fear.

"Maria…I remember the soldiers shooting Maria…" Tails took a step back.

"How can you remember something that happened before you were born? Sounds like something that…" Tails face paled.

"Shadow…would…say…"

xxx

Rate and review, please!


	15. Chapter 15

Everyone took a step back in shock. Sonic looked down at his hands, as if he expected the limiters to suddenly appear. Suddenly, Tails face lit up with an idea. The illusion would have been complete if a light bulb had flicked on above his furry head.

"Shadow said that you forced him out…maybe a small part of his consciousness stayed with you after the separation…" Sonic looked like a deer in headlights.

"When did you say Knuckles would-"He was interrupted by the door creaking open and said echidna walking in.

"So, you woke up already, Sonic? You must have a stronger mind then I thought…is something wrong?" He asked, noticing the worried faces.

"Well, it seems some of Shadow's consciousness stayed with Sonic after the separation…" Knuckles' eyes widened. He turned to Sonic, who was shivering, hands clenched.

"Are you okay? Even semi-all right?" Sonic shook his head, then asked a confusing question.

"A-are you holding an emerald?" Knuckles pulled out the white emerald, holding it out.

"Yes…how did you know?" Sonic only looked even more scared.

"I…don't know…" Knuckles handed the emerald to Manic before walking up to Sonic. Sonic was shaking, and when the Guardian felt his forehead, he noticed it seemed unusually warm. Running his glove along his chest, he noticed a jump in chaos energy right above his heart.

"Sonic? You sure you're all right? You seem kind of hot…" Sonic shook his head again, before speaking.

"Do you think the emerald could help me heal faster?" Knuckles took a step back, reaching to take it back from Manic.

"Probably…that's a good idea." When the gem was nestled in his palm, he beckoned Sonic to come over.

"If it's all right with you Sonic, I'd like to do it. You seem kind of weak right now. Come over here." Sonic nodded, walking over to the echidna. Knuckles sat down, cross-legged on the cool floor. He pulled Sonic down next to him, then set the nervous hedgehog on his lap.

"You'll be fine…I did this to Shadow yesterday, remember? I used the Master then though…" Sonic shook his head.

"I-I don't remember anything.' Knuckles looked to Tails.

"What?" Tails sighed, wanting this over with.

"The coma made him lose his memory of Robotnick capturing him, until the time he woke up." Knuckles looked back at the blue hedgehog in his lap.

"Well, it makes sense he's nervous then…but really, Sonic, you'll be fine." He gingerly held the emerald between his gloves, letting it float above his head. Both boys were bathed in an eerie white light, but Sonic started twitching madly. Knuckles suddenly flinched sharply, like he had put a finger in an electric socket. He let go of Sonic, who started floating towards the emerald. His eyes were closed, but his body was vibrating crazily. Suddenly, a huge bolt of white energy flew out of the emerald, striking Sonic right above his heart, sinking into his fur. He stopped twitching, and the tips his quills started turning gold, rippling downwards across his entire body. Knuckles stood up, backing up to be even with everyone else, who were all watching Sonic with matching awestruck expressions. When it was over, Sonic looked like Super-only unconscious. When Tails took a closer look, he noticed his quills were splintered, like he'd cracked them somehow.

"Sonic?" Tails asked, taking a step closer.

"NO!" Knuckles yelled, grabbing the fox by his back and yanking him back. Sonic opened his eyes slowly, reaching up to touch his head with his glove. Tails noticed something else-his glove hung limply off his hand, like it was a size too big. The bony outline under the fabric also spooked the fox-it looked like Sonic had claws.

"Well well. I'm free. Never thought it would be so fast." Sonic said, turning to face his friends, rendering them speechless. His eyes-they were the red swirls Tails had seen back in the lab, where they had been tied up.

"Sonic?" Sonic started laughing crazily. The sound chilled Tails to the bone-he sounded just like the nightmare he'd had back on the floating island.

"Sonic's not here right now! Welcome Super to the party!" Tails blinked, before taking another step back.

_Of all the possible side effects, we get psychotic maniac…_

"Bro? What happened? I thought you went into that coma to stop this!" Super flew forward, grabbing Manic by the throat, and pinned him to the wall. When Manic started clawing at the air, running out of breath, Super threw him at the opposite wall. When the green hedgehog hit it, he crumpled, unconscious. Sonic flew around, scoring the room for the next victim. Tails took a quick breath, before ducking behind a junk heap.

_If we stall long enough, maybe Sonic can fight his way back…or at least we can figure out how to knock him out… the only one who can even get close when he's like this is…_ Tails flipped open his communicator, then dialed the unfamiliar number.

"Shadow?" He saw the hedgehog's back in his holo-screen, holding the red emerald, obviously about to teleport.

"SHADOW!" Shadow turned around, saw it was Tails, then came back in.

"I was heading to your shop…I felt something was wrong somehow…it's making me sick, actually…" Tails could see that Shadow was indeed a bit pale.

"Never mind, then…but bring some stun weapons. We might need them…" Shadow nodded, running up the stairs. He returned a few moments later with a few stun guns, and a gas grenade. Before Tails cut the transmission, he heard Shadow call out "Chaos Control!"

A second later, A flash of yellowish light appeared in the center of the room, next to where Sonic had already paralyzed-and was now beating the crap out of-Knuckles. Shadow looked around, finally, spotting a bit of orangeish-yellow fur. He snuck over, trying not catch the attention of the distracted Super.

"What happened? And how did I know?" Shadow hissed. Tails replied simply, knowing they were low on time.

"Some of your consciousness stayed fused to Sonic, so that's how you knew something was wrong. What did happen, I don't know. Knuckles tried to help Sonic heal with an emerald, but he turned into that thing, which calls itself Super. You're the only one who's fast enough to be able to get close enough to stun him, so I can try to figure out how to reverse it." Shadow nodded-that made sense.

"Wait-my consciousness is part of Sonic? I knew Shadic was a bad idea…" Shadow sighed, then stood up.

"We'll fix this later…for now, to take care of Super…" Shadow stepped forward, shoes crunching a piece of rusted metal. Super turned around, fangs glinting.

"Ahhh, so Shad's joined the party…"

…

Rate and review, please! Side note-I based this version of Super Sonic after the way the Fleetway comic company portrayed Super. Look him up as Fleetway Super Sonic-I warn you, some fan pics are a bit graphic, but he's awsome. My favorite Sonic 'evil' form, actually.


	16. Chapter 16

Shadow took a cautious step forward. Super let out a low chuckle, floating closer.

"Do you really think you have a chance against me?" Shadow smiled slightly, holding the red emerald.

"Let's see, shall we?" Shadow suddenly took off, shoes floating a foot off the ground to avoid the junk before starting to circle around. Super growled, before shooting foreword. Shadow was barely an inch in front of him before the black hedgehog whipped around, punching Super in the face. Both stumbled back, but Shadow regained his senses first. Grabbing a stun grenade, he threw it at Super. Unfortunately, Super had increased reflexes, grabbing the grenade.

"Oh sh-" Super grinned, before flinging the grenade back at Shadow, the gas leaking out. Shadow knocked it out of the way, where it rolled next to Amy. She took one look at it before running away. Shadow had an idea, but he wasn't sure it would work.

"Here goes nothing…" Taking a deep breath, Shadow held out his arms to the sides, the limiters flying off. Tails stepped forward, ready to catch Shadow. He understood the plan. Shadow curled up into a ball, floating in midair.

_He's still holding an emerald. _Tails realized. _Super doesn't have a chance._ Shadow was pulling energy from everything in the room, electrical bolts dancing across him as the faint red glow surrounding his body got brighter. Super was pointing and laughing, amazed Shadow would even try anything so stupid. Suddenly, Shadow burst open, his entire body pure blood red. Super shut up instantly, shocked anything could hold that much energy while still in normal form. Shadow opened his eyes slowly; the pupils maroon, while red sparks danced around the now midnight whites.

"Who's laughing now?" Shadow whispered, sounding like every word was forced." CHAOS BLAST!" A red energy wave shot through the entire room, blinding everyone for a moment. When Tails could see again, both Shadow and Sonic were completely out. Sonic was blue again, but his quills still were splintered. Tails rushed up, cradling his best friend, while Amy ran over, followed by Sonia carrying Manic.

"Are they okay?" Amy asked, stroking Sonic's quills. Tails shrugged.

"Shadow'll be fine, but I don't know about Sonic. And as long as Sonic's out, Shadow might be too. I'll see what I can do, but…" Tails didn't finish.

"Sonia, you can put Manic on the couch, and Amy, can you pick up Sonic? Just put him on the table." Amy nodded, wiggling her arms under her crush. Tails picked up Shadow, noting he seemed a bit lighter then Sonic was. _  
>Maybe his energy is part of his weight? Who knows…<em> Tails set him on another spare table, then attached breathing tubes and IV's to both hedgehogs. Knuckles was still out too, but Tails noticed he was starting to wake up. _Wow, he can really take a beating…_ the fox noticed that both the red and white emeralds were in Sonic and Shadow's hands. Taking them, he brought them over to where Knuckles was rubbing his head.

"You can use these to help heal faster." Tails said, handing both over. A minute later, Knuckles was ready, recharged-and ticked.

"WHERE'S SONIC!" Tails grabbed the echidna.

"That wasn't Sonic! That was the negative side, resurfacing again. I think he needs the emeralds to come up now…" Knuckles lowered his head.

"Oh. So, what now? How do we get rid of it for good?" Tails looked back at Sonic.

"I was hoping you'd have an idea…" Tails walked back over to his friends. Sonic was breathing really deeply, but Shadow looked like he was just sleeping. Tails typed something into the computer, frowning at the result.

"That's weird…his chaos energy is almost zero…but everything else is fine." Sonia blinked, laying a hand on Tails' shoulder.

"But he's okay?" Tails turned to her, shrugging.

"I guess so…everything else is just fine." Sonic groaned, clutching his hand to his chest. His eyes pried open. He tried to say something, but the mask muffled his speech. Tails removed it carefully.

"Ohhhh, man…I feel like jell-o…" Manic ran over, hugging his brother, before backing away.

"You're you, right bro?" Sonic looked puzzled.

"What do you mean?" He looked down at himself. "Why was I passed out again? I just can't seem to get a break lately…" Tails walked back to the security camera.

"If you didn't like Dark, you're going to hate this even worse…" Sonic's eyes grew wider with every moment as Tails rewound the camera. He never blinked as he stared at the colorful images portrayed the dark phase. He looked at each friend as the maniac doppelganger hurt them one by one.

"Th-that's not me…" he clutched his sides, before his hands moved up to his face. When he looked up, his eyes were dead, completely lifeless.

"If that happens every time I get better, then I can't ask you to keep taking care of me. I'll turn myself in to Robotnick, or I'll run away. I'm only going to come back when everything is back to normal." Tails, Amy, Sonia and Manic all closed in at the same time.

"No." Manic spoke first. "We stuck with you through the Dark time, what makes you think we'd leave you now?" Sonic's eyes started brimming with tears, before he stood up shakily. He opened his mouth to say something, but he crumbled to the floor again. Knuckles raced foreword, placing him on the table again. When the breathing tube and IV were replaced, the computer went crazy, beeping and pinging. Tails eyes widened, and he started typing like mad.

"What's wrong?" Manic asked, worried. Tails face was deathly pale.

"His chaos energy…is absolute zero…he needs to recharge right now or he'll die. And if Sonic dies, who knows what'll happen to Shadow?" Knuckles ran over to Shadow, shaking him.

"C'mon, wake up, wake up…" Shadow's eyes cracked open slowly, and Tails could tell it took a lot of effort.

"Amy! Go grab the limiters!" Amy didn't waste time replying, she just raced to the center of the room, grabbing the rings. Tossing them to Tails, the fox attached them to Shadow. Shadow rolled over groaning.

"Shadow, Sonic's chaos energy is gone. If you don't wake up now, you never will!" Shadow rolled up, rubbing his eyes, looking for all the world like he was a 5 year old who had been woken up abruptly. The info suddenly seemed to sink in, as he bolted up. His mouth opened and closed a few times, before he spoke.

"Give Sonic the limiters. They have trace amounts of chaos energy, and his DNA is close enough to mine for them to accept him." The midnight hedgehog slipped the rings back off, handing them to Tails before slumping back on the table. Tails tossed them to Manic, who slid them up his brother's wrists. Sonic's eyes flashed red for a moment through his closed eyelids, before him twisted himself up. His quills repaired themselves, but he stayed unconscious. The whole room held its breath as he slowly opened his eyes…

…

Yes, I am truly evil. Rate and review! It helps Sonic get better!


	17. Chapter 17

Sonic rolled over, his eyes opening painstakingly slowly. He rubbed his forehead, looking at his shocked friends.

"What?" Tails merely grabbed Amy's purse and pulled a mirror out, handing it to Sonic. When the blue hedgehog looked into it, he almost fainted again.

"M-my eyes…" They looked just like Shadows', the red pupils staring at him, reflecting his horror.

"Why…?" Tails stepped forward.

"We put the limiters on you, because you had almost died of lack of chaos energy. Shadow effectively saved your life." Sonic blinked slowly.

"He did that for me?" _Maybe he cares more than I thought... _"So, where is he now?" Tails nodded to the table next to Sonic. Sonic pushed himself up, walking on wobbly legs over to Shadow, before shaking him awake.

"Hey Shads…you okay?" Shadow's eyes cracked open, widening as his red pupils were reflected in Sonic's eyes.

"What happened?" Sonic shrugged.

"I guess your limiters have some of you in them. Tails, how long before I can take them off?" The fox walked back over to his computer, letters and numbers flashing across the screen at a rapid pace.

"As long as your chaos energy is so low. Until I figure something else out, they're pretty much your life force. I can duplicate them for Shadow, but you might have to keep them on for a while." Tails looked back at Sonic, who looked genuinely creepy with his red eyes and statue-still posture.

"You okay?" Sonic nodded slowly.

"No offence Shadow, but it feels kind of funny having to rely on something besides myself to keep me alive." Amy ran up to him, having worked up the nerve to hug him again.

"You'll be fine! Just stay my brave hero!" Sonic at first tried to push her away, but gave up and let her squeeze him like a huge teddy bear, letting out a gasp when she almost cracked his ribs. Manic stepped forward, pulling Sonic towards him and Sonia for a group hug. Knuckles stood back a little, feeling a bit out of place. Shadow watched from his table with a smug smirk on his face, while Tails reworked his calculations.

"It seems Sonic can't get near the emeralds without reacting, so we need to find a way to get rid of that…and find a way to give Shadow back the part of his consciousness, and the limiters, without killing either of them. This may take a while…" Tails muttered to no one in particular. Knuckles grabbed the white emerald he came with, guessing Shadow might need the other.

"I guess I'll be going…" Tails turned around quickly.

"Can you stay? I'll probably need you later, and it'd be a pain if you had to head back to Angel Island only to turn right back around." Knuckles shrugged.

"Okay…but I'm kind of tired. Is there a bed I can sleep on somewhere?" Tails nodded upstairs.

"The guest room is up the stairs, second door to the right-no, to the left. Amy, you've slept over here before. Can you show Knuckles where it is?" Amy nodded, glad of something to do. She bounced out of the room, followed by Knuckles. Manic was talking to Sonic, asking him if his eyes felt any different.

"Not really…everything is sharper though…I can see really well now, actually." Tails turned away from the computer to walk back over to his friend.

"Feeling better?"

"Well, as long I have control over my limbs, I count that as better. But yea, I do feel pretty much back to normal. Actually, I feel kinda hyper. Can I go on a run?" Tails looked a bit surprised, but shook it off. It had been at least a few weeks since his last good run, and it would help with some of the stress.

"Okay, just activate your communicator first, so if anything goes wrong we'll know." Sonic nodded, suddenly extremely impatient. As Tails re-hooked up the watches, Sonic started tapping his foot.

"I'm waaaaiting…" Tails looked up at Sonic, before bursting out laughing.

"Well, you're completely back to normal for now, at least. Be back in a few hours, okay?" Sonic nodded, before snatching the watch and taking off. Tails turned back to his computer.

"Shadow, I'm going to try recreating the limiters. Just lay down." Shadow complied, before Tails turned back to his screen to figure out the advanced calculations.

…

_This is where I belong. Just running free, the wind on my quills, my shoes barely touching the grass…this is the life._ Sonic was flying, almost breaking his own records. The scenery was just so many colored lines, blurring together into the most beautiful watercolor. The feel of the dewy grass falling under his sneakers, the smell of the damp moss on the trees, the wind blowing through his fur…this was what he lived for.

_Losing something makes you realize how much you miss it…I'm never going to take running free for granted ever again. _Sonic smiled, completely losing himself to nature, letting all thoughts slip away as instinct took over. His feet seemed to speed up on their own, taking him faster than he'd ever been. He almost closed his eyes, but thought better of it. _What's the use of being able to run if I smack into a tree? _Pushing himself harder, Sonic decided to head south for a while, maybe end up on a beach.

After a while, Sonic realized Tails might be getting worried. He checked his watch-and almost jumped right of his glossy sneaks. _Oh no! It's been almost 4 hours, and I'm almost a thousand miles out! Better get cracking; if I hurry I'll be back within the half hour! _Sonic retied his laces before taking off again.

…

Back in the lab, Tails was almost too busy to get worried. He was so close to recreating the limiters, but Robotnick's grandfather had designed them well. Tails was on the edge of figuring it out when Sonic burst in, out of breath.

"Sorry Tails! I lost track of time…" Tails didn't even turn from his screen.

"Tails?" Worried, Sonic stepped forward, shaking his friends shoulders. Tails only shook him off before responding.

"I'm almost there…just adjust that, and…" Tails stepped back, a satisfied look on his face.

"Done!" A small slot slid out of his computer, not unlike the CD drive on a normal human computer. Inside were 2 power rings, doubling as limiters.

"Sonic, I made these for you, so Shadow can put on his old ones." Sonic looked confused for a minute, but agreed. Shadow jumped off his table, walking over to the duo.

"Can I have the limiters back?" Sonic nodded, pulling them off. As they slid off his wrists, he felt woozy, like he was on the edge off passing out. He gripped the table for support, so he wouldn't collapse. Tails grabbed his new rings, and opened them in the middle, clasping them on Sonic's wrists before the black eating up his vision took over completely. The hedgehog instantly stood up straight, rubbing his wrists.

"I didn't realize it was that serious…so. What do we do now?" Tails looked at Sonic with a lost expression paling his features.

"I really don't know…"

…

Rate and review please! Small A/N-I only planned the story up to the Shadic part, (Sonic originally died there, it being a daydream I had kept adding on) so it may be a bit more time in between updates. (Plus, I'm not quite sure where it'll go next. Curse my preteen mind!)I'm continuing because it just didn't seem right to leave it there, plus I wanted keep going because of all your positive reviews. Still glad to hear any compliments/criticisms!


	18. Chapter 18

Shadow flexed his wrists, readjusting to his limiters. There was an awkward feeling hanging heavily in the air, as none of the boys had anything to say. Sonic cleared his throat, breaking the ice.

"So Tails, what so you want to do? Some fresh air would do you good…" Tails nodded, but whispered in Sonic's ear before turning back to Shadow.

"Hey, maybe you two can race?" Sonic swiped his hand across his throat, telling Tails 'no!' Tails was puzzled, until he remembered that Shadow's rocket shoes gave him an unfair advantage. Shadow walked up to them.

"Mind if I join you? The fresh air would be great about now." Sonic shrugged.

"If you want…so. Want to go to that nice little park a few minutes from here? Oak view, wasn't it?" Tails nodded-then shook his head, giggling.

"Sonic, that park is like a hundred miles away." Sonic blushed.

"Sorry...you know I get distances messed up when on my runs…" Tails nodded.

"We can just go to your house…you have that huge grassy field in your backyard, don't you?" Sonic nodded.

"It's been awhile-I might have to do some dusting…" He shrugged. "Oh well. The price of heroism…" Sonic strode through the door, with Tails walking behind him, and Shadow bringing up the rear. Tails had one foot out of the threshold before he stopped, causing Shadow to almost walk into him.

"Amy and Knuckles. I need to at least tell them we're leaving…" Sonic walked back in.

"No prob." Tails braced himself against the doorframe as all his fur was blown forewords, 'the blue blur' literally becoming a blue blur. About 30 seconds later, Sonic raced back down the stairs.

"We're clear." Tails laughed, walking back out the door.

"You know we could have just yelled 'we're leaving for a while." Sonic shrugged.

"Might have taken longer." They ran in silence for a while, Sonic and Shadow side by side, and Tails was flying above. The gentle whirring of the fox's flying had always helped to clear Sonic's head. Shadow was skating along, paying no attention to either of them, lost in his own thoughts. Sonic heard him murmuring to himself, something about chaos. Curious, Sonic asked him about it.

"What's that about chaos?" Shadow turned to Sonic, looking like a schoolboy who'd been caught passing notes in class. He shrugged.

"Just an idea…" Sonic widened his eyes-his clearer vision allowed him to see a single bead of sweat roll down the side of Shadow's head and the way his eyes shifted down quickly.

"Idea about what?" The older hedgehog sighed, stopping.  
>"There's a way we can cure both of us, but it's extremely dangerous…" Sonic spun around, jumping in front of Shadow.<p>

"What?" Shadow stepped to the side, out of the way, before replying.

"I didn't want to tell you because you'd jump right in, without knowing the dangers. If this goes wrong, a lot is at stake. First, we might end up switching minds or powers somehow. Next, it's very possible one or both of us could die. Also, it could send all three of us into a deep coma-with no way out." Sonic took a step back.

"All _three_ of us?" Shadow gave Sonic a 'duh' look.

"We can't use the Master without Knuckles."

"But what if I react in the middle? I could try killing you again!"

"That's why I didn't want to tell you…"

"But you still haven't!" Sonic was starting to get mad.

"Well, it's a bit confusing. Think you can handle it, blue?" Sonic just growled, baring his tiny teeth. Shadow chuckled, before responding.

"I'll take that as a yes… Tails?" The kit lowered, setting in between the two boys.

"All right…so. My idea was that Sonic and I tried using chaos control to restore all my consciousness to me, then Knuckles helps so we can get rid of Dark once and for all by going hyper. The problem is, both of us would be too weak to do much. We'd need to use Shadic again, which being used so quickly within a short amount of time could cause it to become permanent." Sonic's mouth opened and closed wordlessly in shock. Tails was backing away, not wanting to get in the middle. Sonic started rubbing his eyes absentmindedly, deep in thought. Finally, he spoke.

"How long before we can do it?"

"You can't be serious." Shadow narrowed his eyes, and Sonic copied him, letting him know he was dead serious.

"You could die!" sonic put his hands on his hips, shaking his head slowly.

"Better a chance of death then living in fear forever. If I can never go super-or even go near the emeralds- without hurting everyone, and have to rely on a piece of metal to keep me alive…it's not worth it." Shadow blinked. The fool was ready to kill himself.

"It's a very slim chance…" Sonic sighed, letting his shoulders fall.

"Better the nothing, right?" Shadow heaved a dejected sigh, before an idea crossed his mind.

"Knuckles won't agree." Sonic shrugged.

"I can convince him. " Tails had walked back; satisfied the worst of it was out of the way.

"Do you want to go back to my house? I think I've had enough fresh air for now…" sonic jumped a little-he'd forgotten about Tails.

"Um, sure, bud. Where are we now?" Tails shrugged.

"A couple blocks from your house." Sonic nodded-he knew where they were. Suddenly, a wide grin spread across his face.

"Tails, want to ride with me?" Tails eyes widened-it had been forever since Sonic had let him ride…except in emergencies.

"Yea!" Tails hopped into Sonic's arms, curling up a bit. Sonic looked down. Tails felt so _warm. _He started running in place to let Tails get a feel for his rhythm before taking off. He looked back for an instant before yelling to Shadow,

"Meet us back at the house!" Shadow was skating behind them, and Tails was giggling.

"I feel like a little kid again!" Sonic laughed at Tails free-wheeling attitude-it reminded the hedgehog of himself. _I guess I rubbed off on him after all these years…_ he thought to himself. He sped up, just inches from the sound barrier. Tails closed his eyes, knowing what was coming. Sonic let out a crazy laugh as his fur snapped back and a loud boom cracked past his ears.

"This is awesome!" Sonic yelled, his voice getting whipped away by the incredible wind. Tails forced his eyes open, and they started to water, so his closed them again. Then, the fox turned his chest foreword, feeling the wind on his fur, and opened his arms. He knew why Sonic always felt so hyped after a run. Every cell in his body felt alive, like he'd downed a hundred cups of coffee. He spotted his house coming up fast, but Sonic hadn't noticed. They were getting closer…closer…

"SONIC! STOP!" Sonic blinked, shaking his head to bring himself back to reality. His red eyes widened in shock, ands he jumped into the air, digging his feet into the dirt. Tails let out a sigh of relief, before laughing. Due to the extreme friction, sonic was 3 feet underground in his new ditch. Tails hopped out of his friends' arms, before taking flight and pulling Sonic up with him. They both shared a good laugh, Tails remarking on how he'd have to do some new landscaping, before heading back inside.

"Now comes the tricky part." Sonic remarked as Shadow walked in. "Convincing Knuckles…" Sonic headed upstairs to give it his best shot, while Tails wished him luck.

…

I know, fail ending. But forgive my failness and pay attention to the rest of the chapter! I wanted to get a bit of Sonic and Tail best-friendy love in there somewhere. Rate and review please!


	19. Chapter 19

A/N Looking back, this chapter has bad timing, but oh well.

* * *

><p>Sonic took a deep breath, and knocked on the door of the guest room. While he waited for it to open, he studied the circle patterns in the wood, tracing his glove along the largest maple colored swirl. After about 20 seconds, Knuckles opened the door, rubbing his eyes.<p>

"What? I thought you were on a run…" Sonic nodded, but decided not to jump right into his main subject.

"Can I come in?" Knuckles shrugged.

"Not my room, be my guest." Knuckles stood aside, holding his arm into the room in a universal 'come on in' gesture. Sonic walked in, sitting on the bed. Knuckles decided to speak first.

"So, what do you want?" Sonic hadn't planned what to say, so his words got stuck in his throat.

"Um, can you come downstairs with me? I think Shadow can help explain."

"Explain what?" Knuckles only looked at Sonic with a slightly confused expression. He sat down on the bed as Sonic jumped up. The hyped hedgehog grabbed Knuckles by his arm, pulling onto his back, being careful to avoid his quills.

"Just hold on."

"SONIC! WHAT ARE YOU-"Sonic revved up before shooting down the stairs. When they reached the bottom, Knuckles hopped off, pulling Sonic right up to his face.

"What was that for?"

"Well, you didn't seem to want to come down…" Knuckles started blushing angrily.

"I WAS coming down you moron!" Sonic started blushing as deeply as the steamed echidna, but he was from embarrassment.

"Sorry…" Shadow decided to interfere before Sonic got ripped to shreds.

"How much did Sonic tell you?" Knuckles turned to look at Shadow, eyes starting to settle.

"Nothing, really… what's happening?"

"Well, I had an idea…we have to use the Master, though. Sonic jumped on board, but it might have catastrophic side effects." Knuckles' eyes widened.

"What kind of side effects…" Shadow held up his hand, ticking them off on his glove.

"Possible coma, mind switches, and death." His eyes widened even more.

"And if it works?"

"Well, then everything goes back to normal. I'm complete, and Sonic doesn't have to deal with the dark side." Knuckles stood silent for a few minutes, contemplating as Shadow explained his plan. Every once in a while, he asked something like would it hurt us (maybe) or the Master (Not really) After an eternity, or maybe ten minutes, Knuckles had his answer.

"Fine, as long as we take some time to prepare." Shadow shrugged.

"I've been dead before, but you're just asking for it. So…how can we prepare?" Knuckles shrugged.

"You two can go to Angel Island to get better connected to the Master. I'm already in sync there, but you need complete harmony for this to work." Both hedgehogs shrugged at the same time, like twins.

"Sure." Shadow pulled the red emerald from somewhere, and Sonic asked Knuckles for the white one to use, when he realized how bad of an idea that was. He grabbed Shadow's hand, and held out his glove for Knuckles to take hold of. The echidna complied, before Shadow Held the emerald up. Before they transported, Sonic looked over to Tails.

"You coming?" Tails shook his head.

"I want to, but I'd probably mess up the energy somehow. Besides, I need to tell the others." Sonic nodded, turning back to Shadow.

"Okay, ready." Shadow looked a tad nervous-what if the slight energy caused Sonic to change again?

_No, he has no chaos energy left. The Super needs that. But the limiters…maybe… _Shadow turned to Sonic.

"Give me your limiters."

"What? No!" Shadow sighed.

"Fine, I'll take them." Sonic opened his mouth to protest, when Shadow grabbed his wrists, sliding the cold rings off.

"Shadow…what are you…doing…" Sonic muttered, before fading into unconsciousness. Knuckles was looking at Shadow with horror, but Tails had already left. Shadow worked quickly, knowing Sonic didn't have long before his heart completely stopped.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" Shadow gripped Sonic as tightly as he could, knowing the fact that someone was unconscious in the link could mess it up. Knuckles did likewise, squeezing as much as he dared without breaking Sonic's fingers. The few seconds seemed like an eternity, but Shadow breathed deeply when he saw the floral scenery of the Floating Island.

When they landed, Shadow turned to Sonic. He had stopped breathing, and to Shadow's acute hearing, his heart was beating very slowly. He quickly opened the limiters, shutting them on Sonic's wrists. He started breathing instantly, but it took a few seconds before his heart rate started creeping up. After about 2 minutes, his eyelids twitched. As Shadow and Knuckles watched, he yawned, stretching his arms out. Opening his eyes slowly, Shadow sat stock still, but Knuckles gasped. Rubbing his eyes, Sonic turned to the guardian.

"What's wrong?" The echidna helped him stand up, then guided him to a nearby lake. Getting the wrong idea, Sonic instantly started backing away.

"No. No water." Knuckles sighed.

"I'm not going to make you swim. Just look at your reflection in the water." Blushing, Sonic leaned over-and almost fell in when he caught a glimpse of his eyes. At first, he just thought it was the water warping his reflection, but after a moment, it hadn't cleared. His eyes were as crystal clear as every other part of him-and they were blood red. Not the red pupils like Shadow's, but the red swirls of Dark/Super. He dipped his finger into the water, swirling his entire image. He turned back to the others, a look of pure horror on his face.

"No…" He said, unconsciously backing up. Unfortunately, his shoe slid on a slippery vine, plunging him into the water. Instantly panicking, he took a breath, clogging his lungs with the hated water. Sonic started flailing, kicking as he spun in a circle, using a spin dash to shoot foreword and using up his oxygen even faster. He kicked harder, using his arms to propel himself, when Sonic used one of his last rational thoughts to realize that the water was getting darker, not lighter.

_No…I can't die…what'll happen to the others? Tails, Manic…Shadow! Shadow'll go down too. Too…late… _Sonic blacked out completely, letting the water take him.

Back on the surface, both Knuckles and Shadow stood still, rigid with shock. Shadow regained his senses first, diving in after Sonic. He saw a rough patch of water in the middle of the lake, but it looked normal…wait. At first glance, it looked normal, but closer inspection revealed a small patch of blue that was darker than the rest. A flash of red confirmed it was Sonic, but he was swimming down! Shadow swam as fast as he could, but by the time he got there, Sonic had stopped struggling. In fact, he wasn't even moving. Shadow kicked as hard as he could, mentally chanting _no, no, no!_ Shadow felt himself getting a little woozy, but whether from Sonic so close to death's door or the fact he hadn't breathed in a minute and a half he didn't know. Grabbing the wet fur under him, he closed his fist on Sonic's back. Gripping Sonic to his chest, Shadow shot for the surface. He was getting lightheaded, but he was so close…

Knuckles saw a flash of black in the center of the lake. Shaking off his shock, he jumped in, paddling over to Shadow. He was breathing hard, but Knuckles wasn't looking at him-Sonic, in his arms, wasn't breathing at all. Grabbing him, Knuckles started swimming back as fast as he could. Shadow followed, still wheezing a bit. Knuckles crawled up the foliage, and laid Sonic down gently. He started the Heimlich, but nothing was happening. As Shadow followed behind, he crawled next to Sonic before passing out. Knuckles knew it was because of Sonic, and continued pumping his chest.

After a few more moments, he started mouth to mouth; shuddering at having to do it, but knowing it had to be done. As he did, he muttered to himself,

"C'mon, you can make it…"

…

And, once again, I am evil. So sorry for the late update, I just needed a bit of a break. Forgive me. Rate and review! And fangirls, I just KNOW you'd love to be in Knuckles position right now…(sarcasm) Anyways, hope you enjoyed!


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: In response to shortybubbles77 questioning my sanity, I want to say this. I am perfectly normal, and I like and admire Sonic, Shadow, and everybody else as much as the next fan. However, I think Sonic gets overhyped, and often wins too easily. (Especially in the Archie comics) This story is my way of turning that on its head. So, I put him through hard struggles, trying to see how he'll cope with them. (Oh, and Sonic was supposed to have died like 9 chapters ago, but you all would have killed me.) It also probably didn't help that I was inspired by stories like Sonic Epilogue and music by Linkin Park, 3 Days Grace, and the song Break You Open from the Epilogue. Anyways, ON WITH THE STORY!

* * *

><p>Knuckles pumped harder, but the heartbeat under his gloves was faltering. He looked around desperately, pumping harder, but no avail. In a moment of insanity due to the stress, he grabbed the red and white emeralds, holding them up. He set the red on Shadow, and the white on Sonic. Concentrating, the guardian used the healing positive energy, and ONLY the positive energy. Shadow stirred, but Sonic was still out cold. Shadow pushed himself up, obviously only half-conscious.<p>

""Wha's happ'ning?" Knuckles pulled Shadow up, shoving him on top of Sonic.

"You need to help him!" Suddenly, Shadow's eyes snapped fully open. His whole body occupied tremors running along his black back. Shadow's head fell down like a limp puppet. He closed his eyes, hand feeling above Sonic's heart.

"Oh…no…" Knuckles closed his eyes. No matter how much he wanted to deny that he knew the truth, it was there. Shadow took a deep breath, before opening his mouth slowly.

"He's…gone…" Shadow looked up at Knuckles, who nodded slowly, tears staring to well up. Shadow gently opened his eyes to see if there was any color left. They had gone back to his normal emerald, and looked more at peace then Shadow had seen them in a long time. Shadow closed them again, then lifted him up, shocked at how light he seemed. His arms and legs hung limply over Shadow's arms, like a big doll. Shadow's eyes were welling up with tears, but he didn't bother brushing them away, letting them fall on the chest of the only person other than Maria that he'd ever considered a friend.

Shadow tucked Sonic's hands on top of his pale peach chest, crossing them in the sign for love, with Sonic's gloves just barely in fists. Knuckles was walking behind him, trying to be as quiet as possible, but a sniffle was heard every minute or so. Shadow was trying to decide what to do. Should they bring him back? Bury him then tell the others? Cremate him? Well, the last one was out. Tails and his siblings would want to see him. As they neared the emerald alter, the green energy made Shadow's fur stand up. The sun was shining, and he felt almost angry. How dare the world be this beautiful while Sonic lay dead in Shadow's arms! If only Shadow had been awake to help save Sonic. In a way, it was the part of Shadow in Sonic that killed him, and Shadow felt like it was his fault…he suddenly stopped, and Knuckles, who'd been looking at the ground, bumped into him.

"That's it!" Knuckles looked at him confused.

"What's it?" Shadow's eyes blazed with determination.

"If there was a part of me in Sonic, maybe I can still reach him!" Knuckles shook his head.

"That's insane…" Shadow glared at him.

"It's worth a shot. We're going to need all the help we can get though…I'll go back. You stay here. We need everything absolutely perfect for this to work." Shadow pulled out the red emerald, ready to transport. Knuckles grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"It might kill you too! Besides…What if-" Shadow shook him off, an angry look in his eyes.

"I've been through death before. I do not fear the great beyond, but if someone I know enters it…" Shadow gripped Sonic tightly, pulling him closer. Knuckles backed away, knowing arguing was futile.

"Chaos control." Shadow practically whispered, body still shaking with the shock of it all. The warp felt strange this time, almost if he was being twisted inside out-but maybe that was the pain of losing Sonic. He closed his eyes, shivering violently. When he landed back at Tails lab, he felt weak-like his stomach was completely empty, but he wasn't hungry at all. When Tails saw him, he raced over.

"Why are you bac-_oh no."_ Tails whispered, running his hand over Sonic's motionless frame. His eyes moved up to meet Shadow's, and he was shocked to see that they were just staring straight ahead. Not crying, not looking at Sonic, nothing.

"Don't you CARE!" Tails yelled, almost hitting Shadow. Shadow only grabbed Tails' fist, letting it fall. Tears were falling thickly out of Tails' eyes.

"Do-Don't you care? He-he's d-dead…and you're just standing there…WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP IT!" Shadow only continued to stare ahead, not knowing how to comfort the fox. Suddenly, Sonia and Amy walked in, followed by Manic.

"What's all the yelling about?" Manic asked, looking to Tails. The only buried his face in his hands, pointing to Shadow. When Manic turned his head, his entire face paled.

"No…" He raced over, followed by his sister and Amy. Manic raised Sonic's face, pulling him into a hug. Shadow decided it was time to speak up.

"I think there's a way we can save him." Tails looked up, his entire face wet.

"W-what? B-but h-he's dead…" Shadow sighed.

"I've been dead before, and here I stand. Sonic is a lot like me. Besides, if there was some of me in him…" Tails finished his sentence.

"Then maybe there's a way you can save him!" Tails suddenly snatched Sonic, pulling him over to his computers. He hooked up some thick wires, then typed something so fast that no one else could see what it was. He took a deep breath, then almost started crying again. Shadow walked up to the fox.

"What is it?" Tails turned to Shadow, his eyes red from crying.

"The speck of energy from you is fading fast. Get up on the table, so I can test something." Shadow shrugged, hopping up strangely slowly. Tails hooked up a wire in his arm, and one directly above his heart. All of a sudden, Shadow felt extremely tired, but he forced himself to sit up.

"Tails-did you put something in those…" Shadow coughed, not able to finish his sentence. Tails face paled.

"I was afraid of that…" Shadow turned his face to Tails, struggling to keep his eyes open. He usually didn't have to sleep much, if at all…what was going on?

"Shadow…that speck… as it's fading, so are you. When it goes out completely, you're going to either enter a deep coma-with no way out-or there's even a possibility of death. But, no matter, what you do, you _can't_ fall asleep. It'll trigger it even faster." Tails looked over at Shadow, and was shocked to see him swaying dangerously. Manic rushed over, steadying the unsteady hedgehog. Shadow's eye color was slowly fading, the life draining. They were a much paler red, almost pink. His hands were trying to grip the side of the table, but there wasn't much strength left.

"Manic, you need to get us to Angel Island. NOW!" Tails yelled, grabbing Shadow. He couldn't even stand anymore, and was leaning heavily on Tails. He was still in it enough to pull out the red emerald out and hand it to Manic. As Manic clutched it in his palm, his other hand holding Tails, he only hoped they weren't too late…

Ohh, tight spot…rate and review please!


	21. Chapter 21

Tails grabbed Sonic, holding him tightly before nodding to Manic. The green hedgehog concentrated-the pressure to get this right was higher than ever. He took a deep breath, then concentrated on the emerald alter.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" Suddenly, Shadow slumped over, head falling on Manic's shoulder. Manic didn't have time to turn his head, so he gripped Shadow as hard as he could as they moved through the special zone. The first thing Manic saw was stars, and as soon as they landed, he fell to his knees, body still not used to inducing chaos control. Tails grabbed Shadow before he fell off, and turned toward the alter. Luckily, Manic had been only a few feet off target, and they were still next to the emerald. Knuckles rushed over, pulling up Shadow. He dangled loosely in the echidna's hands, his eyes half open.

"What's wrong with him?"Tails eyes were wide with fear.

"You need to find a way to recharge him. _Now._" Knuckles instantly grasped that there was no time for explanations, and set Shadow on top of the Master, then stood next to it. Manic pulled himself up, pushing Sonic up to the alter before collapsing. Shadow's eyes were slowly sliding shut…

"The servers are then seven chaos. Chaos is power. Power enriched by the heart…heal and recharge Shadow!" The Master glowed brightly, sending sparks up to the top. Shadow started twitching madly, entire body glowing bright green. Tails could see Knuckles sweating, because he had to keep the power contained. At the foot of the emerald, Sonic started glowing gently as well, but no one noticed. After about a minute, suddenly the power cut off. Shadow started rolling off the Master, and Tails ran to catch him, but he managed to stand on his own two feet. When Shadow pulled his head up, his eyes were bright blue, the color the ocean, and they were full of so much pain, Tails had to turn away.

"Shadow…what happened?" Shadow lifted one arm, looking at it before pulling it up slowly, setting it across his chest before bringing up the other to do the same. When he gingerly curled up his hands, Tails' eyes started tearing up.

_Love._

"Tails…me and Sonic…we're sharing a consciousness now. We need to find a way to separate…do you know any way…" Tails took a step back. _No way…._ When Shadow stepped forward, he held out his arms. Tails hesitated for a moment, before running up into his friend's arms, pulling him tighter into a big hug. It felt…odd, with Shadow's chest fur, but he could feel Sonic in the warmth. He started sobbing into Shadow's chest, and the hedgehog ran his hand through the fox's hair, whispering softly, trying to comfort his friend. Knuckles only watched, not sure what to say. After a time, Tails finally pulled away. His eyes were red, and he was still sniffling, but he managed to speak.

"Wh-what about the thing you were going to do anyway? Could you try that?" Shadow's eyes widened.

"Maybe…it just might work…but we need to give Knuckles some time to rest. Sonic's not going anywhere until then anyway, so might as well get comfortable." Tails was about to argue, but upon seeing the look in Shadow's eyes, stopped short.

"The tents are probably still set up from a few days ago…" Shadow nodded, then his eyes got a glazed over look in them.

"Sonic wants to say something…" He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, they were warmer, happier.

"Tails…little buddy…" Tails ran up and hugged him again.

"Sonic…I thought I'd lost you forever…" Sonic laughed, and it sounded exactly like he always had.

"Even if I go buddy, I'll always be by your side. Forever. Now, let's go get Manic and take a breather, okay?" Tails smiled, nodding happily. They walked over, and Sonic picked up his unconscious brother. When they found the clearing, all of the tents were still there, so they both crawled into the nearest one. When they were both in, Sonic closed his eyes, again.

"Shadow's going to be the one talking, okay? I get a really big headache when Sonic takes over." Tails shrugged. _Better than nothing, right?_

"So... what really happened? How did you know?" He shrugged.

"I could feel myself fading…the energy wasn't doing much good…when I heard another voice. It sounded familiar, so I tried to figure out who it was, chanting _stay here, stay alive, stay here, stay alive. _I saw Sonic, and I assumed that I was dead, but he walked up to me and started shaking me. He said something…what was it…oh yea. He said, 'Wake up! You're not dead yet, and they need you!' The last thing before I woke up was him dissolving into mist, saying that he'd help me through. Then, I opened my eyes, and he started talking to me again. After that…well, you saw." Tails' mouth was hanging open. _That's amazing…_

"But…how do you share…?" Shadow shrugged.

"He stays in the corner of my mind, unless I let him out. Right now, he's listening, but he can't talk unless I let him." In the corner, Manic stirred.

"Oh man, what happened?" Shadow crawled over, obviously letting Sonic take control.

"Bro, what happened? I can't quite remember…" Manic's eyes widened.

"What are you talking about, Shadow?" Tails moved forward, answering Manic's unasked question.

"Shadow and Sonic are sharing Shadow's body until we can separate them." Manic looked from Tails to Shadow.

"And how long will that be?" Tails shrugged.

"Whenever Knuckles is back to full power. So, I'd say…I don't know. Shadow?"

"Probably around 2 hours." Manic shrugged.

"I can wait 2 hours…" Right then, Knuckles tapped the outside of the tent.

"You guys okay in there?" Tails jumped, but laughed when he realized that it was only Knuckles.

"Yea. It's kind of crowded, though…" Manic jumped to his feet.

"I'll move to the other tent, if it's still up. I wanted to sleep, actually." Tails nodded, settling back down. As Manic left, Knuckles crawled in.

"Sooo, how long before we do this?" Shadow shrugged.

"Whenever you're ready. I thought you should be back to full capacity before we try this." Knuckles replied slowly.

"Probably about another hour or so…what about you?" Shadow crawled back a bit.

"Manic had a good idea…I think I'll sleep." Tails stood up.

"I'll go wait outside then." After Tails and Knuckles stepped out, Shadow laid down, suddenly very tired. But, hard as he tried, he couldn't sleep.

_Shadow…you can fall asleep. You're keeping yourself up._

_Oh, shut up Sonic._

_Want me to help?_

_Fine._

Shadow felt his eyelids drooping closed, and could hear Sonic's smug laugh before falling into a deep sleep…

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><p>Rate and review please!<p> 


	22. Chapter 22

Shadow was running along a dimly lit corridor, pulling his only friend behind him. They were racing through the Arc, only barely ahead of-something. Shadow didn't know what it was, but he knew in the pit of his churning stomach that it was bad.

"Sonic! Come on, we need to hurry!" Suddenly, they rounded the corner toward the labs. Shadow started backing away, then swallowed his fear and tried to charge the door. No use. It was reinforced. He stumbled back for a moment, glancing at Sonic, at the terrified look on his face. It gave him the courage to pull off his limiters-something the Professor had warned him never to do-and throw himself at it as hard as he could. Also no use. He felt himself fading, and managed to grab the doorknob as he fell, crushing it in his hand before blacking out.

When Shadow woke up, he only saw shadows, but his improved eyesight kicked in almost immediately, so he realized that he was in the main lab. The place he'd been made. He turned around slowly, pivoting on his shoes. It all seemed so familiar…but something was different. He saw a glint of glass in the corner, and he stared on it. When it snapped into focus, he almost yelled in shock-it was his capsule. However, he wasn't in it-another, smaller blue hedgehog was. One that wasn't moving. He looked closer at around him-there was a small lever, right next to his arm. One marked 'experimental release'

_No, I couldn't have…_He ran over to Sonic. His entire body was almost stone still, floating up and down gently. His arms were hooked up to thick gray wires, and there was a breathing tube over his mouth, but no bubbles were coming out. Suddenly, Shadow registered something-everything was silent. Dead silent. Everything was shut down. No monitors, no people…nothing. When he glanced around, everything was covered with dust. No one was ever going to come back. He was completely alone.

Shadow closed his eyes. While he was a loner, no one wants to be completely abandoned, in the middle of nowhere, to die. The only one who'd stayed by him, helped him keep his sanity after 50 years of suspended animation, was floating, probably dead, behind him. For the first time since Maria had died, Shadow finally broke, falling to his knees and crying.

"Ahhh!" Shadow bolted up, mind whirling.

_Interesting dream._

_Get out of my head!_

_I would if I could. Knux is probably ready by now, right? Just get up. I want to be in my own body as much as you want me out of yours. _Shadow sighed, embarrassed that Sonic had seen his dream.

_I didn't see it exactly…considering I'm in your head, I was living it as much as you were. It was really creepy seeing myself like that, but I couldn't say anything, or you would have gone nuts._

_Well, that's probably true…ah, there's Knuckles. _Shadow walked up to the altar, stopping on the last step.

"How long was I sleeping?" Knuckles turned around, saw it was Shadow, and shrugged.

"I dunno…about 3 hours." Shadow smiled.

"So you're ready?" Knuckles held out his hand, pulling Shadow the last foot up next to the Master.

"As ready as I'll ever be…" Shadow closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, they had a lighter green tint to the blue.

"Hey Manic! Tails! C'mon out, we're ready!" His voice had a lighter, almost teasing quality-he was letting Sonic talk again. Manic and Tails both crawled out of the other tent a second later, and Manic was rubbing his eyes. Shadow could hear the sticks crack as the two boys walked over to the altar. Tails nodded slowly.

"So…should Manic and I leave...?" Knuckles shook his head.

"Nah. Just stay a few hundred feet away…that tree over there is good." The echidna pointed at a huge oak a ways away, but still in clear viewing distance of the Master. Tails pulled Manic over to it, then looked back with a determined look on his face before giving Knuckles a thumbs up. Shadow took a deep breath before walking over to the Master, picking up Sonic gently. Sonic mentally shuddered-he looked so frail…so weak…then he sighed.

_I'm ready. _

"We're both good. Knuckles?" The guardian nodded, holding up his arms. Shadow used his rocket shoes to fly up to the top of the Master, still holding Sonic. Knuckles gathered the emeralds, letting them fly to their proper places around the altar. He took a deep breath before starting the chant. This time, however, Shadow joined him, letting Sonic just half free so all three voices joined together under the setting sun.

"_The servers are the seven chaos." _Shadow started trembling, and he gripped Sonic's lifeless body even tighter, but kept talking.

"_Chaos is power." _Suddenly, Shadow's entire body was bathed in pure white light. The voice coming from the blinding orb sounded almost angelic, but at the same time so rich it was soothing just to hear.

"_Power enriched by the heart!"_ Knuckles was doing all he could not to fall to his knees-there was so much more power than ever before. There was something they hadn't anticipated that was added to the chaos energy-both Sonic and Shadow's life forces.

"_Separate Sonic and Shadow! Restore them both to themselves!" _Shadow was shaking like crazy, quaking like a leaf in a tornado. Suddenly, Sonic started glowing too, eyes sparking as the energy ran across the lifeless body. The Master was going insane, lightning sparks dancing not only across the surface, but in the air around Shadow and Sonic. Chaos lightning was flying between the emeralds floating above, lighting the area for miles around. Tails wanted to close his eyes, but at the same time it was so amazing he couldn't tear himself away. Shadow was curled up, knees pressed against his head, with Sonic next to him. His eyes were slammed shut, but suddenly flew open, the red so deep it looked like bloodstains had painted themselves on his irises. Sonic suddenly started shivering, curling up as well. His eyes were still closed, looking like he was peacefully sleeping. After one last lightning bolt danced around them, everything suddenly fell totally silent. No birds were singing, the trees were'nt even rustling in the breeze.

Tails raced forward, stopping when he was almost forced back by the force field of chaos. He could see something through the mist surrounding the altar, but it was hard to make out the figure through the haze…Tails was pushed aside as Manic forced his way through, pulling Tails with him. It felt like rubber was forcing him back, but together the boys pushed toward the Master. It took a few minutes, but finally Tails bumped into the warm gem. It was still hot, but Sonic and Shadow were nowhere in sight. Tails took flight, landing on the top. All of a sudden, he caught sight of two unmoving bodies.

"SONIC! SHADOW!"

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><p>Rate and review, please! Oh, and please vote on the poll on my profile. Chapter 23 is up, ff is just being annoying.<p> 


	23. Chapter 23

"SONIC! SHADOW!" Tails rushed closer, but heaved a huge sigh of relief when he saw that they were both breathing. Tails gently pulled Sonic toward him, pressing the hedgehog's warm fur to his chest. The mist still surrounded everything, so he couldn't see him very well, but the knew it was Sonic from the shape.

"Just rest…we'll be waiting…HEY MANIC!" Tails heard a rustling underneath him.

"What?"

"Catch Sonic. I'll carry Shadow; we can set them down over by the tents." Tails carried his friend to the edge of the Master, holding him by his arms until Manic pulled him down. Tails crawled back over to Shadow, lifting him as well.

"He's lighter then Sonic…" Tails muttered. Spinning his tails, it only took a second to fly down. Suddenly, he saw something red moving.

"Ohmigosh! I forgot about Knuckles! Are you…?" Suddenly, Knuckles collapsed at Tails' feet.

"Oh crap…" Tails shifted Shadow over, draping Knuckles over his left shoulder. Manic was already heading toward the tents, so Tails took a deep breath and pulled both boys with him. It took him a minute, but he finally managed to drag them over to the first tent. When Manic heard him, he set Sonic down and ran back to grab Knuckles.

"I'm sorry…I thought he'd be okay…" Tails wiped his brow, shaking his head.

"It's fine. Shadow's not that heavy anyway, and I only had to carry Knuckles a little ways." Manic shrugged.

"Okay…how long you think before they wake up?" Tails shrugged as best he could while holding Shadow.

"I don't know...it'll probably be a while. At least a couple of hours." Manic shrugged.

"The girls should know about this. I don't know if they even know we're here."

"No, they were in the room with us…but I'm sure they're worried out of their minds." Manic nodded, pressing a hand to his chest on top of his medallion. Suddenly, a white light shot out, projecting Sonia's face.

"Well? What happened?" Sonia asked impatiently. Tails could hear Amy in the background, telling Sonia to ask them about Sonic.

"Well, if both of you want to know, Sonic, Shadow and Knuckles are all unconscious, but very alive. It'll be a few hours before they wake up, but I'll call you when they do." Sonia heaved a huge sigh of relief.

"Well, that's good. So, good luck. You can give us the full story when you're back at the lab. Sonia out." Manic nodded at te image on the screen before pulling his hand off the amulet. He turned to Tails, a small smile on his face.

"Sooo…now we wait?" Tails smiled back. He pulled Shadow up higher, then turned to the tents.

"Now we wait."

…

About 4 hours later, Sonic opened his eyes slowly, then instantly squinted them shut again. The light was blinding, almost painful. He managed to force a half-conscious sound from his mouth, prompting Tails to crawl over next to him.

"Shadow! You okay?" Sonic was confused-had he heard wrong? Was Shadow next to him or something?

"Tails? Little Buddy? What happened? Ohh, my head hurts…" Tails shot back, rubbing his eyes. Sonic forced his eyelids up, noting his vision was sharper than usual. He pushed himself up, then rubbed his eyes. His mouth froze in mid-yawn when he noticed the limiters, until he remembered he'd needed them.

"Sooo…what's going on?" Tails' eyes were wide open.

"L-look beside you…" He said slowly, pointing. Sonic's mouth fell open in shock when he saw Knuckles and-himself. He looked the same, except his quills had red stripes, except for the one in his back. He was still wearing the limiters-what was going on?

"What in the name of perfect chaos is going on here?" Manic moved closer.

"Okay, which are you?"

"I-I'm Sonic…" Manic shook his head.

"Not on the outside…" Sonic checked himself up and down. His fur was jet black, his gloves looked the same but with the limiters…he spotted a puddle outside the tent and crawled out, giving himself a better look. He looked like Shadow, a few quills pointing up, but with no stripe. He turned back to the tent, where Tails and Manic were staring out at him.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that…" Sonic walked back over to the tent, stretching before crouching back down and moving back in.

"I feel the same…but then again, Shadow and I have the same physique… so. Wait until he wakes up?" Tails pointed to the 'new' Sonic.

"No need. He's stirring already." Shadow put his hand to his head.

"Errgh…headache." He cracked his eyes open, then the widened in shock as he took in Sonic.

"-What the?" Sonic shrugged.

"This was a possible side effect, right? We can fix it when Knux wakes up." Shadow's mouth opened and closed wordlessly. He spoke slowly, as if he was unsure of what to say.

"Why is your fur pure black?" Sonic pointed at Shadow's quills.

"You kept the stripes." Suddenly, Shadow lunged forward, knocking Sonic to the ground and hitting the tent wall, causing it to collapse.

"YOU CAN'T REVERSE IT!" Sonic struggled out, finally using one of his quills to rip a hole in the leaves. He looked at Shadow, who was steaming mad.

"W-what?"

"I was most afraid of this side-effect, because it seems irreversible. There's no way to switch back as far as I know."In the midst of the chaos, Knuckles woke up.

"What's going on?" He pushed his way out of the tent, standing on shaky legs. The first thing he saw was Manic and Tails standing off to the side, staring at the clearing. Knuckles followed their gaze, and stepped back in shock. Sonic and Shadow were glaring at each other in a standoff, but Sonic had Shadow's stripes. Sonic looked royally ticked, but Shadow just looked scared.

_Scared? _

"I'll say it again, _what's going on?" _ Tails stepped sideways, next to Knuckles.

"Sonic is Shadow, and Shadow is Sonic. That is, they switched bodies. The black one is Sonic, and the blue one with stripes is Shadow. Shadow's mad because he doesn't think they can switch back." Knuckles looked closer. Sonic's face was creased-he did look a bit like Shadow in that expression.

"Well, what do we do now?" Tails shrugged.

"I have a bit of an idea, but you need to get those two to cooperate again." Knuckles sighed-this wasn't going to be easy. He took another look at the blue hedgehog, and the way his fists were tightly balled at his sides.

_Not easy at all…_

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><p>AN: If it's confusing, I'm going to refer to them by their minds, not bodies. Hope that clears it up. UgunsGreka Fans guessed the body switch ahead of time, so I decided to add the small stripe switch to be more original. Now, I think it really adds to the idea. So…thanks?

Rate, review, and vote on my poll please!


	24. Chapter 24

"All right, you two. Calm down." Shadow whipped around.

"You're not in any position to tell ME to calm down!" Knuckles stalked forward, until he was an inch from Shadow's face.

"Tails has an idea. You need to work together for it to work. So deal or be stuck like this." Shadow let out a big sigh, then turned to Tails.

"What do we need to do?" At this, Tails took a cautious step forward.

"Well, before this whole mess came up, I was making a memory transfer machine, so Sonic and I could trade battle secrets. With a few adjustments, I could rework it to switch your minds back. You'd need to use chaos control at the same time for the same purpose for it to work properly. You in?" Shadow shrugged, and Sonic smiled.

"I'm in. Shadow?"

"Fine. How long will it take?" Tails ticked off his fingers, muttering to himself.

"When we get back to the lab, only about an hour, if that." Shadow actually smiled, and even though he looked like Sonic, Tails still felt a shiver run down his spine.

"Then we should get going, shouldn't we?" He held up his glove, and the green emerald zipped from its place on the altar into his palm. Sonic walked over, grabbing Tails and Manic before taking Shadow's hand. Knuckles waved, tossing out one last remark before leaving.

"Good luck…you'll need it." Shadow shrugged it off.

""Chaos control." He said it so normally; Sonic wondered if it would even work. His question was answered when his quills swirled around above him, then a flash of light as they moved into the special zone. For some reason, he felt slightly nauseas in the moment before they touched down, but pushed it down. When he looked over at Shadow, was it his imagination, or was he paler then normal? It was hard to tell, especially since now he looked like Sonic.

"So…Tails? You going to get to work?" Tails nodded, letting go of both Sonic and Manic and walking over to a pair of telephone booth looking divices. Manic brushed himself off, turning to Sonic.

"I'll go get Amy and Sonia." Sonic nodded, suddenly feeling kind of nervous.

"Go ahead. We'll be right here…but don't forget to explain. Wouldn't want Amy running up and hugging Shadow." They both flinched, thinking about the consequences. Shadow had walked over next to Tails.

"Is there any way I can help?" Tails shrugged.

"Not much…you can hand me tools and such, but most of the reworking is deep in the inner circuits." Shadow shrugged.

"Something to do." Sonic wanted to do what he usually did to get rid of jitters.

"Can I go run? I'll put the communicator back on…'cause I don't want to be stuck here for an hour while you deal with all the techno mumbo jumbo." Tails nodded, pulling the communicator off Shadow's wrist and tossing it to Sonic.

"Stay within a couple hundred miles." Sonic shrugged, strapping the communicator on and shooting out the door. Tails turned back to the machine.

"Shadow, hand me the wrench."

…

About 45 minutes later, Sonic heard a beeping, so he looked down to his vibrating wrist.

"Sonic, I'm almost done. You'll want to head back. I'll be only another-" He cut off as Sonic raced in the door.

"5 minutes." He finished, laughing. Sonic started chuckling too.

"I was only a block away. Good timing, huh?" he glanced around the room-Manic had returned, with Amy and Sonia next to him. Both girls raced forward, hugging the hero tightly.

"I thought I'd lost you!" Sonia said at the same time Amy did. Sonic sighed, but hugged them back as best as he could.

"I missed you too…" Amy nuzzled him closer for a moment, ecstatic that he was hugging her back, until she asked something that threw Sonic for a loop.

"What was it like, being dead?" He pulled away, scratching his head.

"It's hard to explain. At first all there was was darkness, but I saw this bright light. I was so close, until it fizzled out. When I turned around, I saw Shadow lying down, looking dead. I ran over, and I swear I could hear his heartbeat. When I touched his forehead, everything went fuzzy, and I think I blacked out. When I woke up, I couldn't feel myself, but I somehow could still speak. Well, Shadow knows the rest." He shrugged, walking over to Tails.

"It done yet?" Tails nodded, standing up and pointing to the booths .

"Yep. Just both step in one. Shadow, you can take the emerald. Sonic, you're close enough that you can both use it." They both nodded, and stepped in. Shadow took the right, while Sonic was in the left.

"All right, both think very clearly about being back in your own bodies. Do it right, and this whole nightmare will be over." Sonic caught the 'do it right'.

"And if we do it wrong?" Tails shrugged.

"One of two things. Nothing happens, and you stay like that, or you switch a few memories. Nothing awful." Sonic nodded-he'd already seen some of Shadow's memories, so neither was worth worrying about.

"You both ready?" Shadow nodded, and Sonic gave Tails a thumbs up. Tails gripped the lever.

"This may tingle...three, two…NOW!" Sonic felt his entire body wracked with electricity. He used the small rational bit left in his mind to concentrate.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" He heard Shadow doing the same, but his vision suddenly blurred. The door wavered, and he heard Shadow say one last thing before he crumpled to the floor.

_It's over._

…

Sonic woke up on Tails' couch, right next to Shadow. He shied away, standing up. Tails was staring at him.

"Sonic? You okay?" Sonic glanced down-he saw his peach stomach, blue legs and fur, his sneakers, the limiters…well, he could get rid of those now. He was nervous as he pulled the rings off, but felt nothing but relief. Sonic rushed forward to pull Tail into a big hug. He was joined by Manic, Sonia and Amy.

"Group hug, Bro!" Manic chuckled, squeezing. They stayed like that for almost 4 minutes, just glad it was over. After a while, they fall apart, with Sonic smiling his trademark grin.

"So it's finally over…there were no side effects?" Tails laughed, pointing at Sonic's head.

"Just one…" Sonic ran over to a mirror. He looked the same, except for two stripes on his quills. He looked back at Shadow-his were still in place.

"Well, I can get used to it. Tails, can I keep my limiters? I never want to forget this." Tails nodded, handing them over. Sonic slid them back on, before grinning evilly. If Tails didn't know better, he'd swear that Dark was back.

"I need to have a word with Robuttnick…"

A/N It's done! Wow, that was way longer then I thought it would be…thank you to everyone who read, rated reviewed, or favorited. I think this went really good for my first story. I only expected it to go to about chapter 12, but it spun out of control, suprising me. It was one of those stories that seems to take a life of its own, one last time, please rate and review, no matter when you read it. I'll check back every few months to see. Shadowdib out!


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